October goodness continues at the videostore and this week’s big release is the amazing classic RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD getting the 4K treatment from Scream Factory. On top of that those that love retro horror and Sci-Fi got some sweet double features rolling in on Blu Ray from Umbrella Entertainment so let’s take a look shall we…
The All Hallows Eve double feature bringing us Art The Clown for his first appearance.
4K Restoration of Jean-Luc Godard’s experimental Eurospy spoof / satire follows Lemmy Caution as he is sent to a sent to the distant space city of Alphaville where he must find a missing person and kill the inventor of fascist computer. Anna Karina,1965.
FIRST TIME ON BLU RAY! In this cult-favorite documentary, Mark Borchardt, an aspiring filmmaker from a working-class Wisconsin background, is set on finishing his low-budget horror movie, despite a barrage of difficulties. Plagued by lack of cash, unreliable help and numerous personal problems, Mark wants to complete the film to raise funds for a more ambitious drama. With the assistance of his bumbling but loyal friend Mike Schank, Mark struggles to move forward, making for plenty of bittersweet moments.
BACK IN STOCK! 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
Comedian Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) examines the rise and fall of his relationship with struggling nightclub singer Annie Hall (Diane Keaton). Speaking directly to the audience in front of a bare background, Singer reflects briefly on his childhood and his early adult years before settling in to tell the story of how he and Annie met, fell in love, and struggled with the obstacles of modern romance, mixing surreal fantasy sequences with small moments of emotional drama.
4K Steelbook re-issue of the beloved cult film starring Bruce Campbell.
A home-invasion thriller involving a dinner party in a country house with 4 wealthy friends in the British countryside. Tom Cullen, Iwan Rheon, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Charles Dorfman, 2021.
Sweet double feature! BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA: After the destruction of the Twelve Colonies of Mankind, the last major fighter carrier leads a makeshift fugitive fleet in a desperate search for the legendary planet Earth. BUCK ROGERS: Astronaut Buck (Gil Gerard) wakes up from a 500-year deep freeze on the spaceship of a power-mad princess (Pamela Hensley).
Triple feature goodness of Mary Shelley’s Monster!
A kung fu master returns from the dead and travels to America to get his revenge on a gang who murdered his best friend.
BLOODY JUDGE: The sadistic chief magistrate of England dishes out torturous punishment to meet his every whim, targeting the guilty, the innocent, and the voluptuous. He condemns women as witches to further his political and sexual needs.
CIRCUS OF FEAR: In the wake of a daring armored car heist that ends with the murder of a security guard, police detective Jim Elliott (Leo Genn) follows a trail of clues to the traveling Barberini Circus, which has just passed through London. Though Elliot suspects a conspiracy under the big top, he discovers strained relations between lion tamer Gregor (Christopher Lee) and his associates. Elliot struggles to find his man — and recover the stolen cash — in a maze of blackmail and deceit.
A wanna be blues guitar virtuoso seeks a long lost song by legendary musician, Robert Johnson. Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Jami Gertz, Walter Hill, 1986.
BACK IN STOCK! The night before his wedding, musician Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancée are brutally murdered by members of a violent inner-city gang. On the anniversary of their death, Eric rises from the grave and assumes the gothic mantle of the Crow, a supernatural avenger. Tracking down the thugs responsible for the crimes and mercilessly murdering them, Eric eventually confronts head gangster Top Dollar (Michael Wincott) to complete his macabre mission.
A geological expedition to an Appalachian sinkhole becomes a fight for survival against a mysterious force.
DR. CYCLOPS: To assist with his work due to his failing eyesight, renowned biologist Dr. Alexander Thorkel (Albert Dekker) invites two prominent scientists and a mineralogist to his hidden Amazon jungle laboratory. Thorkel remains evasive about the nature of his experiments, and after the team evaluates his bacteria slides, he orders them away. When they refuse, Thorkel and his servant trick them into a chamber where Thorkel shrinks them down to microscopic size, and they escape to the terrifying jungle.
CULT OF THE COBRA: Two GIs (Richard Long, Marshall Thompson) out of six cursed by snake worshippers expose a killer snake goddess (Faith Domergue) in New York.
Testing his theory that in every man dwells a good and an evil force, the reserved Dr. Jekyll (Fredric March) develops a formula that separates the two, turning him into a violent ruffian named Mr. Hyde. Thinking he has found the answer to one of life’s grandest mysteries, Dr. Jekyll soon realizes he is becoming addicted to his darker self as he unleashes his violent side on earthy dance hall girl Ivy (Miriam Hopkins) and fights Hyde to regain control of his body.
BACK IN STOCK! Joe (Anthony LaPaglia) runs Empire Records, an independent Delaware store that employs a tight-knit group of music-savvy youths. Hearing that the shop may be sold to a big chain, slacker employee Lucas (Rory Cochrane) bets a chunk of the store’s money, hoping to get a big return. When this plan fails, Empire Records falls into serious trouble, and the various other clerks, including lovely Corey (Liv Tyler) and gloomy Deb (Robin Tunney), must deal with the problem, among many other issues.
Import only / NA Canada Blu-Ray edition of Gaspar Noé’s English language “psychedelic melodrama”. 2009.
The brilliant scientist Jan Benes (Jean Del Val) develops a way to shrink humans, and other objects, for brief periods of time. Benes, who is working in communist Russia, is transported by the CIA to America, but is attacked en route. In order to save the scientist, who has developed a blood clot in his brain, a team of Americans in a nuclear submarine is shrunk and injected into Benes’ body. They have a finite period of time to fix the clot and get out before the miniaturization wears off.
Surveys the mid-period, gutter-noir era of Doris Wishman’s career: BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL / INDECENT DESIRES / ANOTHER DAY ANOTHER MAN / A TASTE OF FLESH / M BROTHER’S WIFE / PASSION FEVER / THE HOT MONTH OF AUGUST / SEX PERILS OF PAULETTE and more…
Beautiful Import Blu Ray Set of both the Original Dune Mini Series and the follow up Children Of Dune Mini Series!
ANDROMIDA STRAIN: Chilling tale about a US research satellite carrying a deadly extraterrestrial microscopic organism that crashes into a small town in Arizona. A group of top scientists are hurriedly assembled in a bid to identify and contain the lethal stowaway. Based on the novel by Michael Crichton.
GROUNDSTAR CONSPIRACY: When explosions destroy the American Groundstar space station control center, only scientist John Welles (Michael Sarrazin) survives. Badly injured, he stumbles to the home of divorcee Nicole Devon, who is soon dragged into the investigation of the explosion by security head Tuxon (George Peppard). When Tuxon suspects John has masterminded the sabotage, John undergoes weeks of brutal questioning. Only when he runs away with Nicole does John begin to learn who’s behind the conspiracy.
Five-disc set includes: Re-Animator (1985) / Bride of Re-Animator (1990) / Beyond Re-Animator (2003) / Dagon (2001) / Color Out of Space (2019)
A cat burglar is forced to steal Da Vinci works of art for a world domination plot. Michael Lehmann (1991)
BACK IN STOCK! Starring Seth Green. A teenage slacker’s right hand becomes possessed with murderous intent. Rodman Flender (1999)
ISLAND OF LOST SOULS: In this adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel “The Island of Doctor Moreau,” Edward Parker (Richard Arlen) is shipwrecked on a remote island presided over by the mysterious Dr. Moreau (Charles Laughton). Edward discovers his host is conducting genetic experiments, and presiding over a race of half-human, half-animal hybrids, including the alluring Panther Woman and the sage Sayer of the Law (Bela Lugosi). The island has become its own society, with Moreau as its god.
THE BLACK CAT: After a road accident in Hungary, the American honeymooners Joan and Peter and the enigmatic Dr Werdegast find refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, who shares a dark past with the doctor.
BACK IN STOCK! An uncompromising masterpiece of tension and all-too-realistic violence! A gang of masked men break in and take an entire family hostage demanding the father hand over everything or his family dies. Miguel Angel Vivas, 2010.
BACK IN STOCK! When the hapless Sing (Stephen Chow) and his dim-witted pal, Bone (Feng Xiaogang), try to scam the residents of Pig Sty Alley into thinking they’re members of the dreaded Axe Gang, the real gangsters descend on this Shanghai slum to restore their fearsome reputation. What gang leader Brother Sum (Danny Chan) doesn’t know is that three legendary retired kung fu masters (Yu Xing, Dong Zhihua, Chiu Chi-ling) live anonymously in this decrepit neighborhood and don’t take kindly to interlopers.
BACK IN STOCK AND HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Ultra-rare splatterrific weirdo horror-comedy about a bunch of tourists who happen upon a forgotten-to-time Mexican village where a diabolical ritual has unleashed Hell on Earth. Somtow Sucharitkul, 1990.
BACK IN STOCK! DIRECTOR’S CUT! Meek flower shop assistant Seymour (Rick Moranis) pines for co-worker Audrey (Ellen Greene). During a total eclipse, he discovers an unusual plant he names Audrey II, which feeds only on human flesh and blood. The growing plant attracts a great deal of business for the previously struggling store. After Seymour feeds Audrey’s boyfriend, Orin (Steve Martin), to the plant after Orin’s accidental death, he must come up with more bodies for the increasingly bloodthirsty plant.
IMPORT BLU RAY. DIRECTOR’S CUT! Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz) is an intelligent, outgoing and humorous teenager who suffers from a facial deformity called “lionitis” and has now outlived his life expectancy. While his mother, Rusty (Cher), struggles to fight for his acceptance in the public school system, he proves himself to be a highly accomplished student. Though Rocky endures ridicule for his appearance, he finds love and respect from his mother’s biker gang family, and even experiences his first love.
THE MOLE PEOPLE: Scientists (John Agar, Hugh Beaumont) find a lost underground city of pale people and mutant slaves.
THE LAND UNKNOWN: During an expedition to the South Pole, a storm forces a damaged helicopter to an emergency landing. The passengers are in a mysterious area that survived prehistoric times.
BACK IN STOCK! Brian De Palma’s (Scarface, The Untouchables) classic musical cult comedy remastered! William Finley, Jessica Harper, Paul Williams, Brian De Palma, 1974
BACK IN STOCK! Legendary 80’s slasher gorefest available for the first time uncut! Paul L. Smith, Christopher George. Written by Joe D’Amato. Juan Piquer Simón, 1982.
Four repressed, religious teens and a straight-edge projectionist working at a small-town movie theater in the 1990s discover a secret screening room filled with vintage X-rated exploitation films. Playing one of the old film reels unleashes a succubus named Lilith, who attempts to seduce each of them to steal their souls.
Australian horror about an uncle & nephew exorcist team who notice that demonic possessions appear to be on the rise. John Jarratt, Lincoln Lewis, Angie Kent, Chris Sun, 2021.
BACK IN STOCK! Double Feature Blu Ray of both films.
BACK IN STOCK! The complete REC. collection on Blu Ray!
COLOSSUS: FORBIN PROJECT: Tucked away in a secret location in the Rockies, Dr. Charles Forbin (Eric Braeden) has developed a massive computer system, dubbed “Colossus,” that is supposed to ensure the nation’s safety against nuclear attack. But when Colossus connects to a similar Russian computer, “Guardian,” the intelligent machines begin conducting a private dialog. Nervous as to what they might be plotting, Forbin severs the connection, only to have Colossus threaten a nuclear attack if the link isn’t restored.
JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN: Two astronauts unravel more than a mystery when they set out to explore a newly discovered planet hidden; there are two weeks left before two planets collide, but Russia and the USA refuse to co-operate.
When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapours cause the dead to rise again as zombies. Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Dan O’Bannon, 1985.
Aussie thriller where a truck driver plays a cat-and-mouse game with a mysterious serial killer who uses a young female hitchhiker as bait to lure victims on a desolate Australian highway. Richard Franklin (1981)
For the kids…a fun double feature!
BACK IN STOCK! One of the few slashers produced during the short-lived, early 80s revival of 3D movies! Remarkably well shot and rarely available in its original 3-D anaglyph version. Howard Johns, Simon Nuchtern.
BACK IN STOCK! Rival groups in a skiing school do battle on and off the piste. One gang are rich and serious, the other group are party animals. Dean Cameron, Tom Bresnahan, Patrick Labyorteaux, 1990.
BACK IN STOCK! A maverick cop goes undercover into a dangerous criminal underworld and, under the spell of the bad guys charismatic leader, maybe gets in a little too deep. Brian Bosworth, Lance Henriksen, William Forsythe, 1991.
BACK IN STOCK! A crazy clown stalks and tries to kill three women in a wretched old apartment building on Halloween night.
And there we go guys…some more stuff hitting the shop. Due to the long weekend it should be Friday when it hits the shelf. Cheers!
