DVD and Blu-Ray Releases: December 7th – Whale Watching With the Cronos Videodrome
It is a very light week for horror DVDs with a few re-releases on Blu-ray of newer classics, starting with the “New Flesh” that is Videodrome as well as Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos.
Other releases this week that are worthy of any mention include a blood-soaked whale-watching trip, an entomologist who started a human collection instead, and a television mini-series about exorcism.
Videodrome (Criterion Collection) (1983)
Directed by David Cronenberg
Starring James Woods, Deborah Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky, Leslie Carlson
When Max Renn goes looking for edgy new shows for his sleazy cable TV station, he stumbles across the pirate broadcast of a hyperviolent torture show called VIDEODROME. As he unearths the origins of the program, he embarks on a hallucinatory journey into a shadow world of right-wing conspiracies, sadomasochistic sex games, and bodily transformation. Renn’s ordinary life dissolves around him, and he finds himself at the center of a conflict between opposing factions in the struggle to control the truth behind the radical human future of “the New Flesh.”
Buy the DVD.
Cronos (Criterion Collection) (1993)
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Starring Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook
Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) made an auspicious, audacious feature debut with CRONOS, a highly unorthodox tale about the seductiveness of the idea of immortality. Kindly antiques dealer Jesús Gris (Federico Luppi) happens upon an ancient golden device in the shape of a scarab, and soon finds himself possessor and victim of its sinister, addictive powers, as well as the target of a mysterious, crude American named Angel (a delightfully deranged Ron Perlman [Hellboy]).
Buy the DVD.
The Collector (1965)
Directed by William Wyler
Starring Terence Stamp, Samantha Eggar, John Kohn
Get ready for an electrifying and chilling film experience that lays bare the intimate longings of a man — and the woman who has become his captive. Based on the best-selling novel by John Fowles, THE COLLECTOR tells the story of a quiet London bank clerk (Terence Stamp) whose butterfly collecting hobby takes a sinister twist when he kidnaps a most unusual specimen — a beautiful woman (Samantha Eggar, Golden Globe Best Actress winner for this role)! This film is a classic thriller and features a haunting musical score by Maurice Jarre.
Buy the DVD.
Harpoon: Whale Watching Massacre (Unrated Edition)
Directed by Julius Kemp
Starring Gunnar Hansen
When a bloody freak accident takes out their captain, a boatload of international tourists on a whale-watching expedition must fight for their lives while stranded in the middle of the ocean. Help seems to arrive in the form of a helpful whaler who offers to take them back to shore, but instead he strands them on a rusty, terrifying barge of death with his insane family who are determined to hunt down and kill the trespassers one by one! Featuring an appearance by horror legend Gunnar Hansen (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre), this shocking, blood-spattered trip on the high seas unleashes a night of terror only a lucky few will survive. (Read our Harpoon review here.)
Buy the Blu-ray or the regular DVD.
“Apparitions”
Directed by Joe Ahearne, John Strickland
Starring Martin Shaw
In this six-part miniseries, Martin Shaw (“Judge John Deed”) is Father Jacob, a Roman Catholic priest who examines evidence of miracles to promote candidates for sainthood. He is drawn into the domain of exorcism when he is approached for help by a young girl who believes her father is possessed. Besieged by ghastly visions, vicious murders and demonic attacks, Father Jacob wages war against evil with the only weapons he has – faith, ritual and prayer.
Buy the DVD.
– KW Low
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