DVD and Blu-ray Releases: May 30, 2017
Welcome again, friends. Hopefully everyone had a nice long weekend because we’ve got a good-sized list for you, with a fairly decent amount of classics. The only discrepancy to speak of is 1989’s Hellbent. This limited edition Blu-ray may have already dropped September of last year, but it popped again for this week, so here you go.
Fans of TV’s “Scream Queens” might be interested in The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Emma Roberts stars in this haunting movie that gets a Blu-ray/DVD release this week.
Sci-fi/horror movie Rupture will be heading to DVD. You can check out an interview with director Steven Shainberg here.
Credited with being the world’s first splatter movie filmed entirely from a first-person perspective, 2013’s Hotel Inferno is getting another DVD release, this time including a bonus CD with the movie’s soundtrack.
The 1980s is definitely the dominant decade this week. In addition to the aforementioned Hellbent, there are seven other releases from the era of being rad. Starting in 1980 with The Hearse and finishing in 1989 with The Jigsaw Murders, there are plenty of options for you to check out while in your parachute pants.
Going further back, we have two pretty awesome Blu-rays to talk about. The first is a Christopher Lee double feature, containing both Blood of Fu Manchu and Castle of Fu Manchu. The second is 1973’s Blackenstein.
Next week we’ve got a pretty light list, but the following is pretty stacked. Keep checking back so you don’t miss anything, and as always, pleasant viewing.
MOVIES
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)
Starring:
Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, Lauren Holly, James Remar
Synopsis:
Beautiful and haunted Joan makes a bloody and determined pilgrimage across a frozen landscape toward a prestigious all-girls prep school, where Rose and Kat find themselves stranded after their parents mysteriously fail to retrieve them for winter break. As Joan gets closer, Rose watches in horror while Kat suffers terrifying visions and becomes possessed by an unseen force.
Before I Fall (2017)
Starring:
Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage, Cynthy Wu
Synopsis:
Samantha Kingston has everything: the perfect friends, the perfect guy, and a seemingly perfect future. But after one fateful night, Sam is trapped reliving the same day over and over, and she starts to question just how perfect her life really was. As she untangles the mystery of a life derailed, she must also unwind the secrets of those closest to her and discover the power of a single day to make a difference – before she runs out of time for good.
Blackenstein (1973)
Starring:
John Hart, Ivory Stone, Joe De Sue
Synopsis:
You may have heard of this infamous Blaxploitation/horror hybrid, but the real story is even more bizarre: In 1973, criminal-lawyer-turned-wannabe-monster-movie-mogul Frank R. Saletri wrote and produced this grindhouse hit about a Black soldier mortally wounded in Vietnam transformed into a rampaging monster by an L.A. mad scientist. Almost a decade later, Seletri himself would be murdered gangland-style in a crime that remains debated and unsolved to this day. John Hart (TV’s “The Lone Ranger”), 40s Hollywood starlet Andrea King (The Beast With Five Fingers), and even former mob moll/stripper Liz Renay (Desperate Living) star in this jaw-dropper directed by William A. Levey (The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington), now restored with all-new Special Features that spotlight the entire twisted saga!
Dark Harvest (1992)
Starring:
David Zyler, Jamee Natella, Debbie O’Der
Movies:
Dark Harvest
It’s stranded tourists vs. killer scarecrows in this early 90s SOV rarity. They planned on a relaxing horseback ride through the desert… They didn’t plan on engine trouble, long-winded campfire stories, deranged hillbillies with a shotgun, and a dangerous trek over cursed terrain. But the real terror begins when they discover that the creepy scarecrow overlooking their campsite has mysteriously disappeared from his cross.
Escapes
Matthew Wilson didn’t order Escapes, but when a mysterious mail carrier delivers a VHS to his door, he pops it in his top-loader, not knowing what real life danger lurks inside the magnetic tape. Concluding his run of portmanteau chillers (Tales of Terror, Twice Told Tales, The Monster Club, From a Whisper to a Scream), horror legend Vincent Price presents these six bizarre tales of the uncanny.
Evil Ed (1996)
Starring:
Johan Rudebeck, Per Lofberg
Synopsis:
WHEN HIS MIND BLOWS, ANYTHING GOES!
A blood-soaked love letter to the splatter films of the 80s, video rental favorite Evil Ed returns in a brand-new Special EDition featuring an extended cut of the feature and hours of stomach-churning bonus features!
Mild-mannered film technician Edward enjoys his job. That is, until he finds himself transferred from his regular post to the Splatter and Gore department , where he’s forced to edit hours upon hours of grisly video nasty footage. Traumatized by the onscreen violence, Ed starts to lose his grip on reality with ghastly (and bloody) consequences…
Owing a debt to films such as The Evil Dead, Re-Animator, and the early splatter classics of Peter Jackson, Evil Ed is a veritable smorgasbord of flying limbs, exploding heads, busty babes, and creepy creatures!
The Hearse (1980)
Starring:
Trish Van Devere, David Gautreaux, Joseph Cotten, Christopher McDonald, Donald Hotton
Synopsis:
Jane Hardy, a recently divorced teacher from San Francisco, decides to spend the summer at the large old country home willed to her by her aunt. However, upon arriving in the sleepy town where her aunt lived, she’s met with hostility from the locals and slowly begins to discover her aunt’s dark connections to witchcraft and the occult, all the while being menaced by a large black hearse that mysteriously drives near her house in the dead of night…
A chilling blend of supernatural horror and romantic mystery, The Hearse stars Trish Van Devere (The Changeling), Joseph Cotten (Shadow of a Doubt), and David Geautreaux (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) and was one of the few directorial efforts from prolific editor George Bowers. Taking strong influence from European Gothic horror films of the 1960s, The Hearse is a haunting and suspenseful, classically minded horror film and is proudly presented by Vinegar Syndrome on Blu-ray, newly restored in 2k from its original 35mm negative.
Hellbent (1989)
Starring:
Phil Ward, David Marciano, Lyn Levand
Synopsis:
This is a limited edition release of 2,000 units.
Director Richard Casey’s (Horror House on Highway 5) second feature is an ambitious and at times dreamlike Faustian story, set in the rough underworld of LA’s heavy metal and punk music scene. Lemmy (Phil Ward) is the frontman for an unsuccessful band, who’s willing to do anything to make it. After a chance meeting with Mr. Tanas, a music promoter, Lemmy is offered the deal of a lifetime: fame for nothing more than his soul. The young singer doesn’t believe in such things and accepts the offer, but he quickly learns that this sleazy promoter has more in store for Lemmy than just the stardom he’s dreamed of.
Directed and photographed like a surreal documentary, and co-starring David Marciano (“Homeland”) and Darcy Nichols (Cafe Flesh), Hellbent is a blood-soaked document of late 80s Los Angeles, as seen through the eyes of outcasts and derelicts. Vinegar Syndrome proudly presents this forgotten gem of independent horror newly restored from its original 35mm negative and on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time.
Hide and Go Shriek (1988)
Starring:
Brittain Frye, Annette Sinclair, George Thomas
Synopsis:
A teen-ager talks her boyfriend and three other couples into playing hide-and-seek in a furniture store.
Horror House on Highway 5 (1985)
Starring:
Phil Therrien, Michael Castagnolia, Max Manthey
Synopsis:
This is a limited edition release of 3,000 units.
A mysterious killer, wearing a Nixon mask, terrorizes and murders a young couple. A professor assigns his students a project investigating the strange events connected to a possibly dead Nazi scientist, Dr. Fredrick Bartholomew. The doctor’s assistant kidnaps students, holding them hostage and torturing them. Meanwhile, Nixon stalks the night!
One of the most confusing and compelling homemade horror films ever made, future music video director Richard Casey’s debut feature film, shot over years on nights and weekends, is a delirious collage of oddball gore, ludicrous plot twists, and a general milieu of weirdness unlike anything else in cinema history. Newly restored from original 16mm vault elements, Vinegar Syndrome presents one of the quintessential cult movies of the 80s officially on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time anywhere in the world.
Hotel Inferno (2013)
Starring:
Michael Howe, Rayner Bourton, Jessica Carroll
Synopsis:
Deadly contract killer Frank Zimosa has just been hired for a ridiculously lucrative mission by the rich and powerful Jorge Mistandria. The objective: kill a couple of people hiding in one of his European hotels. But what should have been one of the simplest jobs Frank has ever had is about to turn into a living nightmare when he realizes he is nothing more than prey for Mistandria’s army of crazed henchmen, who have been hiding in the hotel along with an ancient and unstoppable horror! You don’t just watch it… you experience it!
The Jigsaw Murders (1989)
Starring:
Chad Everett, Michelle Johnson, Yaphet Kotto
Synopsis:
A police detective and a doctor solve a gruesome mystery with a puzzle and tattoo as clues.
Rupture (2017)
Starring:
Noomi Rapace, Peter Stormare, Kerry Bishe, Lesley Manville, Michael Chiklis
Synopsis:
A single mom tries to break free from a mysterious organization that has abducted her.
Slaughterhouse Rock (1988)
Starring:
Nicholas Celozzi, Toni Basil, Tom Reilly, Donna Denton, Hope Marie Carlton, Steven Brian Smith, Ty Miller, Al Fleming
Synopsis:
A student goes to Alcatraz Island to help a rock singer exorcise a cannibal cavalry officer.
The Undertaker (1988) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
Starring:
Joe Spinell, Rebeca Yaron, Patrick Askin, Susan Bachli, William Kennedy
Synopsis:
For years Roscoe (Joe Spinell) has been the town undertaker. However, inside his funeral home, he’s been amassing a bloody collection of human souvenirs, which he uses in unspeakable acts of violence and perversion. When some townspeople begin to disappear under strange circumstances, Roscoe’s nephew starts to grow suspicious of the goings-on at his uncle’s funeral parlor. As he gets closer to the truth, he inadvertently begins putting the lives of those around him at risk, as well as his own…
One of cult superstar Joe Spinell’s final films, The Undertaker is a dark and violent slasher featuring one of Spinell’s most memorable and flamboyant performances. Long thought lost and only available in bootlegs or its radically recut and heavily censored version, Vinegar Syndrome proudly presents The Undertaker newly restored from its original 35mm original camera negative and on Blu-ray for the first time. Also included are never-before-seen outtakes, production still gallery, and a brand new interview and commentary with writer/actor/director William Kennedy, who tells the story of this unjustly forgotten slice of late 80s horror.
COLLECTIONS
The Blood of Fu Manchu/The Castle of Fu Manchu
Starring:
Christopher Lee, Tsai Chin, Richard Greene, Maria Rohm, Maria Perschy
Movies:
The Blood of Fu Manchu
From his secret lair deep within the South American jungle, international super-villain Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee of Count Dracula) and his sadistic daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin of You Only Live Twice) reveal their latest diabolical plot for world domination: Ten beautiful women are infected with an ancient poison so deadly that one kiss from their lips will bring instant death and lead to a global plague. Now the Asian madman’s nemesis, Nayland Smith (Richard Greene of Tales from the Crypt), must desperately hunt an antidote in a savage land where violence and torture reign and the ultimate evil lies in The Blood of Fu Manchu.
Maria Rohm (Venus in Furs) and Shirley Eaton (Goldfinger) co-star in this wild Fu Manchu feature written and produced by Harry Alan Towers (Eugenie) and directed by the one and only Jess Franco (Vampyros Lesbos). Also known as Kiss And Kill, Against All Odds, and Kiss of Death, Blue Underground presents The Blood of Fu Manchu in High Definition, complete with additional scenes of violence!
The Castle of Fu Manchu
Christopher Lee (The Lord of the Rings) returns as the diabolical super-villain who, along with his sadistic daughter Lin Tang (Tsai Chin of Casino Royale), creates a fiendish new chemical weapon that will turn the seas into a giant block of ice. But when his archenemy Nayland Smith (Richard Greene of The Adventures of Robin Hood) tracks the madman’s trail of kidnapping, murder, and massive global destruction, he himself becomes trapped in Fu Manchu’s impenetrable lair of cruelty. Can any of the world’s top secret agents (including a wild performance by Jess Franco) stop the cold-blooded terror that lives in The Castle of Fu Manchu?
Maria Perschy (The Ghost Galleon) and Rosalba Neri (99 Women) co-star in this notorious sequel directed by Jess Franco (The Bloody Judge) that marked Christopher Lee’s final performance as the infamous Chinese madman. Now Blue Underground presents The Castle of Fu Manchu in High Definition, packed with Extras for a disc full of Fu Manchu mayhem!
Shock-O-Rama Horror Collection
Starring:
Rachael Robbins, Misty Mundae, A.J. Khan
Synopsis:
Dripping with bone-chilling terror and unearthly monstrosities, this special 4-disc Shock-O-Rama Horror Collection includes four acclaimed films by veteran horror director Brett Piper. Whether zombies (Shock-O-Rama), mutating insects (Bite Me!), malevolent spirits (Screaming Dead), or military experiments run amok (Bacterium), Piper’s practical FX wizardry and classic horror always delivers “one hell of a good time” (Bacterium, Gates of Gore).
Movies:
Shock-O-Rama
Life imitates art when popular horror actress Rebecca Raven (Misty Mundae) battles a flesh-starved zombie hungry to bite off more than it can swallow. A gruesome, grotesque, horror comics-inspired monster movie adventure.
Bacterium
An isolated outpost in the wilderness becomes a battleground between humankind and morphing microscopic monster in this gross-out shocker! When a handful of friends stumble upon the abandoned building, they come face to face with a biological weapons experiment gone catastrophically wrong.
Bite Me!
A crate of bio-engineered marijuana winds up at a strip joint after a drug deal gone bad, bringing with it a renegade DEA agent and a swarm of monstrous critters. Bite Me! has “something for everyone: strippers, mutant bugs, violence, strippers, blood, car wrecks, marijuana, and lots and lots of laughs.” (MoviesForGuys.com)
Screaming Dead
A history of torture and unspeakable horrors await a sadistic photographer and his three beautiful models when they take up residence in an abandoned insane asylum.
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