New and Upcoming DVD Releases

Posted on July 3, 2009 by admin

The UK’s Arrow Videos recently released some interesting titles under their new imprint, Masters of Giallo. The three initial titles include Dario Argento’s Sleepless, Lamberto Bava’s Macabre, and Lucio Fulci’s House By The Cemetery. Although the titles aren’t anything too exciting, having been released elsewhere previously, but they are definitely worth picking if only for their awesome sleeve artwork, which bring back memories of the early 80′s video sleeve. The three titles were released on July 29th, and it appears this is going to be another UK label to keep watching.

Staying on the other side of the pond, Shameless Films have released a brand new director’s cut of Baba Yaga (Corrado Farina, 1973). This is a brand new edit which includes footage that was previously removed to finally bring to us the director’s original vision of the film. The great new disc was released back in April, so a little late on this one, but well worth picking up. Also in the works is Luigi Bazzoni’s Footprints (1975). This rare giallo will be released August 29th, and looks set to be yet another must have DVD.

There is a very small label based in Greece, Onar Films, who are pushing some odd product. They are releasing obscure films from Turkey who are not known for their cinematic output. Still don’t be put off, they have some very intriguing titles in their catalog, a couple of Giallo’s no less… Kadin Dusmani (Woman Despiser) is an very early giallo (1967) directed by Ilhan Engin, and is very heavy on the gothic side. The release is a seriously limited edition. Only 500 copies have been pressed, each hand numbered, so be sure to pick up you copy while you still can. The other release is a double bill, aptly named: Turkish Horror Double Bill. It features Oluler Konusmaz Ki (The Dead Don’t Talk), another gothic horror from the early 70′s, and, Aska Susayanlar Seks Ve Cinayet (Thirsty For Love Sex And Murder), a sleazy giallo from 1972. Unfortunately it sounds like the quality on these discs might not what we hope to see on dvd, but the rarity of these films should be more than enough to kill any complaints. Mine are currently in the mail, and I know I can’t wait to see these obscurities.

There are some interesting releases in the US, unfortunately several are just re-releases with out anything new on the discs. Redemption are currently going through there back catalog and ensuring it’s back in print. Black Torment (out now!), Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (July 28th), and Prey (out now). Previously released by Shriek Show, Jean Rollin’s Dracula’s Fiancee now is being released by Redemption on August 25th.

Mya Communications are continuing to release some great titles this summer. Joe D’Amato sequel/prequel to Anthropophagus Beast, Horrible (aka Absurd, Anthropophagus 2), finally sees a release on July 14th, although it has very little to do with the original at all – just a name cash in since Anthropophagus Beast did pretty good at the time. Also, on the way is Island Of The Fishmen (July 14th), Devil In The Flesh (July 28th), Dinner with a Vampire (August 25th), The Legend of the Blood Castle (out now). Also of note is an erotic comedy featuring Edwige Fenech, Ubalda, All Naked and Warm (July 14th).

Blue Underground are re-releasing Sergio Martino’s classic slice of giallo, Torso, hopefully it really is fully restored unlike the previous Anchor Bay release. Also coming up is The 10th Victim Torso and the 10th Victim hit shelves July 28th.

Synapse have released Violence and Flesh (1981) on their Impulse Pictures label, a label which explores some more erotic avenues. Violence and Flesh sounds oddly interesting. A houseful of woman are terrorized by some escaped criminals in this Brazilian film.

Lucio Fulci’s Door Into Silence (1991) finally gets a release from Severin on July 14th. This was the last film Fulci was to direct, so a worthy DVD release for historic purposes if nothing else.

Criterion are about to release a worthy deluxe release of Roman Polanski’s classic Repulsion, a journey through a young woman’s mind as she quickly spirals out of control when left by her vacationing sister. Released on Blu-Ray and DVD July 28th.

Posted in Dario Argento, DVD News, Edwige Fenech, Erotic, Exploitation, Giallo, Lucio Fulci | Leave a comment

Eye on Horror: Tales of Voodoo

Posted on June 18, 2009 by admin

There are a lot of DVD releases lately cashing in on the popularity of the Grindhouse tag line. This collection is another of those. Originally released on DVD in the form of several volumes of Tales of Voodoo, this series of 10 films released by Videoasia has been collected into a box set for a fraction of the price. Obviously this is the time to pick this box set up, if ever there was a reason to in the first place. And, since no one else it likely to touch this with a barge pole, at least someone should take a closer look…

Escape from Hell Hole (1983)
Directed by Maman Firmansyah

This Indonesian woman in prison melodrama is fairly tame when compared to some of the other films in this sordid genre from the likes of Jess Franco and Bruno Mattei. If you are eager for a display of female flesh, this is not the film for you. It really doesn’t get even mildly interesting until the latter part of the film. Hell Hole tells the story of a small town girl being tricked into going to the big city by a friend. There she ends up being entrapped in a house of sin where the woman are treated like caged animals. In this place a girls virginity is her prize, and if they don’t give that prize up to the head honcho then it’s the end for them. But the women are given clothes and beach towels, so it’s hard to see what they are really upset about – they even find time to get down for some disco dancing. Yeah, it really is pretty lame stuff, but there’s some tongue ripping, knife throwing, cat fighting, and positive speech giving to be witnessed so that might just help get you through it.

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Oasis of Fear (1971)

Posted on April 9, 2009 by admin

(aka Dirty Pictures)

Director: Umberto Lenzi

Starring: Ornella Muti, Ray Lovelock, Irene Papas

Umberto Lenzi is mostly widely known for starting one of the most vial and controversial genre’s of them all, the cannibal epic. The genre started with Lenzi’s rather tame Man From Deep River (1972), although it wasn’t until Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust (1980) that things really started to heat up in a seriously controversial way. Even though Deodato perhaps pushed the genre over the edge shortly before Lenzi, Umberto wasn’t far behind, and managed to cement his place in the celluloid hall of fame with a film banned the world over, Cannibal Ferox (1981). Still, before all the cannibal madness Lenzi had been making a name for himself by directing some very intriguing thrillers. Oasis of Fear is a rare example of one of these early thrillers. British label Shameless has manage to get this rare film into the hands of fans, securing some footage that hasn’t been seen before, according to Shameless.

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Door Into Darkness (1973)

Posted on April 7, 2009 by admin

Director: Dario Argento, Luigi Cozzi, Roberto Pariante, Mario Foglietti

Starring: Aldo Reggiani, Laura Belli, Mimmo Palmara, Enzo Cerusico, Paola Tedesco, Pierluigi Apra, Marilu Tolo, Riccardo Salvino, Glauco Onorato, Marcella Elsberger, Mario Foglinetti, Erika Blanc.

This long awaited release of Dario Argento’s Door Into Darkness was originally planned for it’s US DVD premiere by No Shame last year, but after the labels sudden demise the release was left in limbo. Luckily, Mya Communication stepped in, a label formed out of the ashes of No Shame, and one that is quickly establishing itself as a forced to be reckoned with where it’s catalog of Euro horror is concerned.

Door Into Darkness is a collection of short films produced for RAI TV in Italy in the early 70′s. These tales of murder and mayhem are a mixed bag, but supposedly pushed the boundaries of violence on TV at the time, which might not be saying much when viewed by today’s standards. Unfortunately the original materials are no longer around, so this release is from pulled from the RAI TV masters. Although the quality isn’t as nice as we might hope for, it’s not horrible even though the quality oh each episode varies slightly. Door Into Darkness in an interesting collection of thrillers and seems very much in line with other TV productions of the time, including an introduction for each tale by Argento himself; reminiscent of the American TV shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents or the Night Gallery. There were four episodes produced for this series, each episode was directed by a different director and ran approximately one hour, a few might say that some of the episodes over stay their welcome, but for the most part this is an enjoyable collection of tales.

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The Frightened Woman (1969)

Posted on March 24, 2009 by admin

(aka Femina Ridens, The Laughing Woman)

Director: Piero Schivazappa

Starring: Dagmar Lassander, Philippe Leroy, Lorenza Guerrieri

The Frightened Woman is an obscure little movie released by a small, but seriously cool, label in the United Kingdom, Shameless. Directed by Piero Schivazappa, this visual gem of a movie finds it’s subject matter firmly planted in a battle of the sexes. So, all those couples out there, you can put away those dueling gender games and once and for all let The Frightened Woman give us the answer we all know to be true: there’s just one that has the upper hand.

Dagmar Lassander (House By The Cemetary, and Naked Werewolf Woman) stars as Maria, a reporter from the publicity department of a company that has conducted experiments on male sterilization. She is putting together a story on the subject and asks for more materials from the director, Dr Sayer (Philippe Leroy). When asked what she thinks of the concept, Maria’s all for it. “Why should the woman always be the one to take precautions” she tells the director. The director is absolutely appalled, thinking that the act of sterilization is “barbarous”, stating that the potency of man should remain intact. The materials Maria needs are in at Dr Sayer’s house and they make arrangements for her to pick them up after she promises to write the kind of article Sayer wants.

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Important DVD Releases

Posted on February 16, 2009 by admin

There are a couple dates to look forward to in the coming months, one next week and the other the following month. Both have a slew of dvd releases hitting the shelves which are sure to drain the bank reserves. Mixed in with these releases are some important film by important directors. Remember if you don’t buy ‘em these labels won’t stick around in this tough climate! Below are the titles seem worthwhile buying to me…

February 24:
Bird with the Crystal Plumage [Blu-ray]
Label: Blue Underground. Director: Dario Argento
The second Blu-ray release of an Argento title from Blue Underground. Not many of these cool Euro titles are making it to Blu-ray, so support the cause! Go Blue Underground! Although their new titles could be a bit more interesting these days.. There I said it.

Scorpion with Two Tails
Label: Mya Communications. Directed by Sergio Martino
There was a bit of a Egypt kick in the early 80′s in Europe… We had Dawn of the Mummy, Fulci was doing it, and this is Sergio Martino effort. Probably not great, but we gotta have it still. Another new, and interesting release for the mysterious Mya Communications label.

Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Label: Mya Communications. Director: Dario Argento
Classic. Must have. First time this has been released on DVD in the USA after being wrapped up in legal tape for so long – Paramount wanting too much to release the thing. Finally… Mya Communications strikes gold early on in life.

Sins of Sister Lucia
Label: Mondo Macabro
A Japan nunsploitation movie… need I say more? Where do Mondo Macabro find these bizarre titles? We don’t really care as long as they are releasing them!

Requiem For A Vampire
Label: Redemption. Director: Jean Rollin
Re-release by Redemption to get this movie back in print. Probably has little significant difference from their previous release. If you want an upgrade pick up the European Encore 3-Disc set.

March 31:
Two Evil Eyes [Blu-ray]
Label: Blue Underground. Directors: Dario Argento/George Romero
So-so interpretation of stories by Edgar Allan Poe, and another decent title on Blu-ray. Argento’s tale is much better than Romero’s fairly lastlustre interpretation.

The Cremator
Label: Dark Sky Films
What sounds like a surreal black comedy from the Czech republic, and it sure does sound interesting! A late 60′s lost classic perhaps?

Cat In The Brain
Label: Grindhouse Releasing. Director: Lucio Fulci
Not Fulci at his best, but a great film starring Fulci in the title role as a director being haunted by his work. Autobiographical? Who cares, this is going to be a great release. I’m all over this one…

The Sinful Dwarf
Label: Severin Films
Dwarfsploitation?!? This one will likely throw you over the edge… A dwarf captures and rapes women in what in supposed to be a fairly vile movie. But we were never big fans of Disney anyways, were we? Severin really do know what they are doing…

Exposed
Label: Synapse
Christina Lindberg stars in this piece of celluloid sleaze from Synapse who are doing a good job of getting the Swedish stars film appearances on DVD. Christina will be at Cinema Wasteland in April…

The Escapees
Label: Redemption. Director: Jean Rollin.
This is one of those rare Rollin movies that have never seen the light of DVD. What would we do without Redemption in all matters Rollin?

Posted in Dario Argento, DVD News, Exploitation, French Horror, Giallo, Jean Rollin, Lucio Fulci, Nunsploitation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Fascination (1979)

Posted on February 15, 2009 by admin

Director: Jean Rollin

Starring: Brigitte Lahaie, Franca Mai, Jean-Marie Lemaire, Fanny Magier, Muriel Montosse, Sophie Noel, Evelyne Thomas, Agnes Bert, Alain Plumley, Myriam Watteau, Joe De Lara, Jacques Sansoul

Fascination could most likely be described as Rollin’s most accessible film, and it is, but it’s also a masterpiece of 70′s European horror cinema. Those might be big words, but Rollin’s output is vastly under-rated and under-appreciated, so it only seems fair! And while we might normally equate achieving accessibility with selling out, this is far from the case with Rollin. Every moment of Fascination could easily find its way into any other Rollin film, except there are just more memorable moments, and the story is perhaps a little tighter than his other work.

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Pieces (1982)

Posted on January 15, 2009 by admin

Pieces(aka Mil gritos tiene la noche, One Thousand Cries Has the Night)

Director: Juan Piquer

Starring: Christopher George, Lynda Day George, Frank Braña, Edmund Purdom, Paul L. Smith

Grindhouse Releasing are starting to get back into the swing of things with a couple of very interesting releases which hit shelves in October; Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond (1980) and Juan Piquer Simon’s Pieces (1982). These two releases share certain similarities in their approach, but one is a masterpiece and the other is, well how can I put this… absurdly entertaining.

Pieces owes much to Lucio Fulci’s early 80′s output, with its use of a familiar face (Christopher George – City of the Living Dead), to the overall feel of the film. And, although much of Fulci’s output during this time can hardly be called solidly scripted, much more sense can be made of Fulci’s work than can be of Pieces. But comparing Pieces to anything by Fulci is probably giving Pieces too much credit from the get go. It’s hard to take Pieces seriously and it’s probably closer to comedy than it is serious scares, whether intentional or not.

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Posted in Giallo, Slasher Films, Spanish Horror | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

NoShame resurrected?

Posted on November 25, 2008 by admin

After the disappointing demise of NoShame Films at a time when they were on the verge of releasing Dario Argento’s Door Into Darkness on DVD for the first time Stateside, it appears that there might be a Phoenix rising from the ashes. A company called Mya Communications (formed by an ex-NoShame partner) is releasing Door Into Darkness on January 27th as the 2-Disc special edition that NoShame had coming. Also of note from Mya is Lucio Fulci’s 1964 comedy The Maniac, which will be released the same day.

This is not the end of the news from Mya Communications. The most exciting news is that they’ve secured the rights to release Four Flies on Grey Velvet here in the states. This promises to be a very important release, the film being tied up for years by the folks at Paramount wanting way to much for the rights. Not so long ago Four Flies was released in Germany as some sort of semi-official release by RetroFilm, although the quality wasn’t what it could have been. Mya promises a release that is remastered from the original negatives, and completely uncut. Four Flies is released on Feb 24th, 2009 and Sergio Martino’s Scorpion with Two Tails is released that same day. Can’t wait…

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Blood Rose (1970)

Posted on October 14, 2008 by admin

(aka La Rose écorchée, Devil’s Maniac, Ravaged, The Burnt Rose, The Flayed Rose)

Director: Claude Mulot

Starring: Philippe Lemaire, Anny Deuperey, Elizabeth Teisser, Howard Vernon

One the of most important horror films of all time is the French film, Les Yeux San Visage (Eyes Without A Face, 1960), a film that is visually more stimulating than the far more famous Psycho, released later that same year. Les Yeux Sans Visage deals the plight of a beautiful young woman who is horribly disfigured in an accident, so her father makes attempts to have a skilled surgeon conduct a facial transplant. They obviously need a face, a beautiful face, from which to transplant and there’s not many ways to get the willing donor. This plot device has been duplicated many times over the years, Jess Franco alone has made several versions, and even Les Yeux isn’t totally unique, even though it is a stunning film in its own right.

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