Good news for lovers of the late and sorely missed Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci. My Horror Squad colleague Scott Weinberg spotted a listing for a Blu-ray version of City of the Living Dead over at DVD Active.
Blue Underground is the company responsible for this new version of the intestine-spewing, drill bit-to-the-head Italian splatter epic. The film–also commonly known as The Gates of Hell–will be available on regular DVD, but the new Blu-ray is the version you’re going to want to grab. Extras for the Blu-ray disc include three brand new goodies: “Acting Among the Living Dead – Interview with Star Catriona MacColl”, “Entering the Gates of Hell – Interview with Star Giovanni Lombardo Radice”, “Memories of the Maestro”. I’d be all over that for those three things alone–if I owned a Blu-ray player.
The discs are scheduled to be in stores on May 25th. Check out the new cover art above.
One of my favorite under-the-radar films of last year was Glenn McQuaid’s I Sell the Dead. The film turned up on IFC’s VOD service, but most people missed it. I reported news earlier that it was slated to come to DVD at the end of March. Now, Dread Central has scored a look at the cover art and supplemental materials for the disc. Looks like it’s shaping up to be a nice release.
That’s the cover art above. Extras on the disc include:
Commentary with stars Dominic Monaghan and Larry Fessenden
Commentary with director Glenn McQuaid
The Making of I Sell the Dead featurette
The Visual Effects of I Sell the Dead featurette
Trailer
Check out my review if you’re on the fence about this one. I Sell the Dead hits retail on March 30th.
UK fright fans got a chance to check out The Descent Part 2 in theaters last December. Unfortunately, American audiences will have to make do with a DVD release as opposed to catching it on the big screen.
DVD Active is reporting that Lionsgate will bring Jon Harris’ sequel to Neil Marshall’s cult chiller to American home video audiences on April 27th. I’m ambivalent about this–to be honest, there are films that I don’t really need to see in a theater, and The Descent Part 2 falls squarely in that category. I’m perfectly content to watch it from my couch.
Here’s the synopsis:
Dazed, bloodied and speechless with trauma, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the Appalachian cave system where the events of THE DESCENT took place. Local sheriff Redmond Vaines forces her back underground to help the rescue team which is desperately searching for her five missing girlfriends. As the team moves deeper into the caves, Sarah’s flashes of fractured memory intensify and she begins to realizes the full horror of the would-be rescue mission. Only Sarah knows the terror which lurks in the shadows of the caves. But they are about to encounter a new tribe of crawlers, inbred, deformed and even more viciously feral than those Sarah faced before.
No word yet on what extras might be included with the disc, but I’ll keep you posted as we get closer to April 27th.
If you like your slashers old school, then news that Code Red is preparing a new DVD release for 1982’s cult classic Madman should definitely brighten your Monday.
Originally released on DVD by Anchor Bay back in 2001, the film has long been out of print. IFC keeps it in regular rotation, which has helped a whole new generation of slasherphiles appreciate its considerable (and cheesy) charms, but news of it being available again to own certainly warms my black heart.
Details on what the disc will include in terms of supplements are still being hammered out. What we do know is that the commentary track with director Joe Giannone, writer Gary Sales, and stars Tony Fish and Paul Ehlers will be jumping to the new version.
STYD is also speculating that the new disc will feature cast interviews and a tour of the film’s various shooting locations led by Ehlers himself.
Here’s the simplistic plot description from IMDB:
At a summer camp for youths, cockey pre-teen calls out the name of mass serial killer “Madman Marz”. Suddenly, counselors are being maimed and slaughtered in various ways by the backwoodsman who has returned when his name was called.
No official release date has been announced, but it seems safe to assume that we’ll see Madman sometime in 2010.
The guys over at Dark Sky films are really going all out for the House of the Devil DVD and Blu-ray release. First they made all of us horror nerds drool with their promo VHS release of the film (which only select people received) and now they’ve taken things to another level with this new viral marketing ad in The Village Voice.
The guys over at Dread Central were cool enough to post a photo the ad (click the link to see it for yourself), which says “baby sitter needed”, followed by an 800 number. I haven’t had time to dial it for myself yet, but I suggest you all give it a whirl and see what you discover.
House of the Devil is set to hit DVD and Blu-ray on February 2nd. Have a peek at the trailer below and see why it’s turned up on so many Best of ‘09 lists.
I reported news on the tentative DVD release date for Marcus Dunstan’s The Collector over on Horror Squad a few weeks back. Today, that date is now official. If you missed out on seeing the film during its theatrical run this past July, clear your calendars for April 6th–because that’s when the disc version will be available for your perusal.
Video ETA is reporting that date, and they’re rarely ever wrong about these things, so it seems a safe bet that this is the real deal. It’s odd that we’ve had such a long delay between the film’s theatrical run and its DVD release, but here’s to hoping the film finds an audience in the home market.
Here’s the synopsis followed by a trailer.
“The Collector follows the story of handyman and ex-con Arkin, who aims to repay a debt to his ex-wife by robbing his new employer’s country home. Unfortunately for Arkin, a far worse enemy has already laid claim to the property—and the family. As the seconds tick down to midnight, Arkin becomes a reluctant hero trapped by a masked ‘Collector’ in a maze of lethal invention—the Spanish Inquisition as imagined by Rube Goldberg—while trying to rescue the very family he came to rob.”
I can live with the fact that New Line and Warner Home Video are giving us another Nightmare on Elm Street box set. It’s totally unnecessary and clearly a ploy to make a few bucks on what they hope will be an outbreak of “Freddy Fever” once the remake hits, but it’s not like they’re the first people who’ve released new sets of their back catalog to capitalize on a remake (look at all the Friday the 13th discs we got last year…). Hell, you can even cut them some slack–they’re including Freddy vs. Jason, which wasn’t in the original set.
What I (and countless other Freddy fans) cannot forgive is the new box art for this set. If you look closely, you’ll no doubt notice that the new cover is a poorly photoshopped version of a picture of Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street remake (this one right here). How in the fuck do you put Jackie Earle Haley on the cover of a box set of Freddy movies and not Robert Englund? I can live with the fact that Englund isn’t playing Freddy in the new film, but Jesus Christ, he’s the only guy who plays Freddy in any of the movies in this set. Put him on the cover and give him his due.
Anyway, this abomination is being released on April 6th. Needless to say I will not be buying it.
In preparation for the DVD release of Ti West’s House of the Devil, some lucky horror journalists have gotten an awesome collectible–a VHS version of the film in a giant clamshell case.
I can hear some of you now, thinking “why in the hell would anyone want a movie on VHS?”–well, primarily because West’s satanic thriller was built from the ground up to resemble an ’80s era exploitation film–and those movies always hid in the horror section of your local mom and pop video store, housed in these giant boxes with lurid covers (although the classics tended to come in giant paper boxes, not clamshells). If you’re old enough to remember the days of “big box” horror, then this should give you a definite feeling of nostalgia. Uncle Creepy over at Dread Central posted pics of his copy (you can see them here).
Naturally, the bastards didn’t send me one (despite the fact that I gave the film lots of love leading up to its release and included it in my year’s best list), but I’m not bitter. Nope, not bitter at all.
The rest of us will have to make due with a standard DVD and Blu-ray release, due to hit retailers on February 2nd.
I’m not sure why anyone would feel the urge to make a sequel to one of the worst films in recent history (Uwe Boll’s Alone in the Dark), but that’s exactly what’s happening and I’ve got the trailer to prove it (thanks to the mighty Dread Central).
What’s even more puzzling is why you’d make a sequel to a terrible film that is essentially universally despised, change the actors and story, and yet keep the title. Christian Slater and Tara Reid are gone and the only real tie to the original movie (which was based on a videogame series) is that Edward Carnby is still the main character. If that’s your only real tie to the original series, you’d probably be better off just doing a brand new standalone film. I guess this proves that even bad publicity is better than no publicity at all. I can see no other reason to tie yourself to anything directed by Uwe Boll.
Anyway, I’m probably gonna wind up watching this thing (and hating myself as soon as it starts) because it’s got Bill Moseley, Danny Trejo, and Lance Henriksen in it. Those three guys are cool enough to get me to watch just about anything and I don’t see that changing any time soon. Donald Pleasence had the same affect on me–and while I was burned by many a bad flick with Dr. Loomis skulking around in it, I kept going back for more.
We’ll all find out how bad Alone in the Dark II is when it debuts on DVD this January 26th.
Ti West’s House of the Devil made my ten best horror films of 2009, but I realize most people didn’t get to see it (it played a very limited theatrical run and was available on various VOD services). If that applies to you, then this is good news.
According to various online sources, House of the Devil will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on February 2nd. Read on for the technical specs…
Special features will include: 5.1 English Audio;English and Spanish subtitles; feature-length commentary with writer-director-editor Ti West and actress Jocelin Donahue; feature-length commentary with writer-director-editor Ti West, producers Larry Fessenden and Peter Phok, and sound designer Graham Reznick; “In The House of the Devil”; “Behind the House of the Devil”; Theatrical Trailer; Deleted Scenes
Jocelin Donahue stars in the film as Samantha, a pretty college student who takes a gig babysitting for Tom Noonan and his wife (Mary Woronov) only to discover that there’s something much more nefarious afoot. The film is a throwback to the ’80s era of exploitation and satanic panic films and should please just about everyone who grew up in the big box VHS era.
