June DVDs Bring Maniacs, Demons, Fishmen, Italians, and Robots!
June is going to be a busy month for DVD releases. We’re going to get supernatural horrors, Italian shockers, and Sci-Fi Channel schlockers; not to mention one hell of an Asylum mocker. Here’s a taste of things to come.
What better place to begin than with Lionsgate’s June 16th release of Richard Friedman’s Born. Starring Joan Severence, Denise Crosby, and Kane Hodder, it’s another one of those demon baby in the womb horror flicks. This time out a virginal 21-year old (Alison Brie) wakes up impregnated by a demon (Hodder, of course); the demonic baby eventually overtakes her mind and sends her on a killing spree. I’ve come across some reviews of Born online, and let’s just say most would have preferred this film to be retitled Abort. Only the best from Lionsgate.
June 23rd is the date Lionsgate will release Brendan Foley’s Legend of the Bog (formerly Bog Bodies). We’ve been following the progress of this chiller starring The Midnight Meat Train‘s Vinnie Jones; the trailer can be seen here. A 2,000-year old Irish warrior whose body has been perfectly preserved in the peat bogs resurrects after a real estate developer unwittingly digs him up. It seeks ancient vengeance against a group of strangers that all share a guilty secret. Jones stars as a hunter out to ensure the Bronze Age zombie rests in peace once and for all.
Also on June 23rd, Monarch Entertainment sends War Wolves to the frontlines of DVD store shelves. Originally premiering on the Sci-Fi Channel, the action horror flick deals with soldiers back from war that now have to deal with having been infected with a werewolf virus. A Special Forces soldier is sent out to hunt down a pack of she-wolves that used to serve in his own unit. Michael Worth (who also wrote and directed), John Saxon, Tim Thomerson, Martin Kove, Adrienne Barbeau, and Natasha Alam star.
Prepare for a Second Coming from Vivendi Entertainment on June 30th. With shades of The Omen, Jose Zambrano Cassella’s film deals with twin sisters sharing a special bond; when one twin feels pain, sorrow, or happiness, the other feels it too. The sister that grew up and moved away from their childhood small town begins receiving chilling visions from her twin, prompting her to return to her hometown where she’ll uncover a sinister plot involving her now missing sister. Automaton Transfusion‘s Juliet Reeves stars.
More Sci-Fi Channel monster mayhem arrives on June 30th with Sea Beast, the newest aquatic monster mash from Paul Ziller (Snakehead Terror, Loch Ness Terror) being released as the latest in Genius Product’s “Maneater” series. Having just recently reviewed the film, I can tell you this is another case of a nifty monster trapped in a woefully formulaic creature feature. A fishing village is terrorized by a gill-man, or would that be a gill-woman given its attack is aided by its little offspring? “Mr. Syfy” Corin Nemec is the down-on-his-luck fisherman up for the challenge of battling a very agile mutant angler fishman capable of Predator-like stealth, reeling in victims with a super long tongue and incapacitating them with the venomous slime it spits. Great DVD artwork; shades of Humanoids from the Deep.
More fishmen will go on the rampage as part of a trio of older Italian horrors getting the DVD treatment courtesy of Mya Communication. The first, Jorge Grau’s 1973 Hammer-esque Legend of Blood Castle, chronicles Countess Elizabeth Bathory’s bloody quest to maintain her eternal beauty. Boasting an anamorphic 1.77:1 transfer, deleted and alternate scenes, the original Italian opening credits, and a photo gallery, the disc will be bloodying shelves on May 19th.
Mya follows that up with two releases on June 30th. A follow-up to Anthropophagous, 1981’s Horrible (better known as Absurd) reteams director Joe D’Amato with star George Eastman in the gore-soaked tale of a nuclear experiment gone wrong resulting in a virtually unstoppable mutated madman who goes on a bloody rampage.
Island of the Fishmen is Sergio Mantino’s original uncut 1979 version of the film released in 1980 under the title Screamers. A frequently wet Barbara Carrera stars alongside Richard Johnson and Joseph Cotton in the creature feature about shipwreck survivors that find themselves on an island with a mad scientist turning men into fishmen.
Both Horrible and Island of the Fishmen will come with trailers and image galleries. All three discs with retail for $24.95 each.
And finally, who cares it if’s not horror related? Transmorphers: Fall of Man! The Asylum’s mockbuster prequel starring Bruce Boxleitner and Jennifer Rubin seeking refuge beneath the earth when transmorphing robot invaders arrive to conquer our planet. Oh, if only Asylum mockbuster’s could live up the spectacular DVD artwork the great Mike DiGrazia conjures forth.
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