May DVD & Blu-Ray Highlights

With April soon to be fading away, here is the lowdown on what devilish delights await in May.

My most anticipated release this month has got to be Arrow Films' City of the Living Dead, as previewed here on 25th April. Here is what else the UK has to look forward to in May:

UK distributor In2Film are continuing with their Roger Corman spree, with the following releases rearing their b-movie heads in May:

Attack of the Crab Monsters [1957]



Released: 3rd May

Death Sport [1978]



Released: 3rd May

Not of This Earth [1988]



Released: 3rd May

Slumber Party Massacre [1982]



Released: 3rd May

There are plenty of Corman films being released in May, and a nice, inexpensive series of cheesey, shlocky films they are too.

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More from the UK next, in what is probably one of the best titles for a horror film ever. In fact when I first heard the title, I thought it was a bleak documentary based in Iceland; how wrong was I?!

On May 10th Harpoon: The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre [2009] gets a release, courtesy of E1 Entertainment.

I'm really looking forward to this; a gorey throw-back to the slashers of old, plus it even stars Gunnar "Leatherface" Hansen.





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Another UK DVD to hit the shops in May is Alan Gibson's fantastic Goodbye Gemini [1970], a tale of psychedelic incest from Odeon Entertainment in the form of a digitally remastered special edition.





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Shameless Screen Entertainment also make a very welcome comeback to the DVD market (after what seems like a very long absence) on 31st May with Mario Bianchi's devilish euro-sleaze skin flick: Satan's Baby Doll.



And with a tag-line like that, you know it's got to be bad for you.

Trailer from the Severin US release:



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Incoming for May from the US, and to coincide with the UK Blu and DVD release of City of the Living Dead [1980], Blue Underground will release their version on 25th May, which I hear shares the transfer with that of the UK release, but differs on extras: - a double dip then? You decide.



Blue Underground will also be releasing a Blu-Ray version of Django [1966] on the same day.



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Other note-worthy US releases include MYA Communication's Love Games (Sette ragazze di classe) [1979]



Sandok (Sandok, il Maciste della giungla) [1964]



and

Submission of a Woman (Al calar della sera) [1992]



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Also from the US in May comes the release of Never Sleep Again a documentary on the Nightmare on Elm St. phenomenon.



Specs are as follows:

"Child murderer. Dream demon. The bastard son of a hundred maniacs. Any way you slice it, there can only be one man, one monster, who epitomizes those words:

Freddy Krueger.

For decades, Freddy has slashed his way through the dreams of countless youngsters, scaring up over half a billion dollars at the box office across eight terrifying, spectacular films. What's more, it has become evident that Freddy may never rest in peace.

In this thrilling retrospective, fans will enter the world of Freddy Krueger and A Nightmare On Elm Street like never before: exploring what spurred mastermind Wes Craven to craft the first groundbreaking film; delving deep behind the scenes of the original and all of its sequels; learning how the cast and crew brought their worst nightmares to life; and finally, understanding the impact the series and its mythos have had on modern pop culture and the horror genre.

Narrated by and starring Heather Langenkamp, featuring interviews with the cast and crew spanning every film, and loaded with clips, photographs, storyboards, conceptual art, publicity materials, archival documents and behind-the-scenes footage, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy is the definitive account of what many have called the best, most frightening and imaginative horror franchise in motion picture history.

* NTSC Region 1
* 2 DVD Set
* Extended Interviews
* First Look: Heather Langenkamp's "I Am Nancy"
* For the Love of the Glove
* Fred Heads: The Ultimate Freddy Fans
* Horror's Hallowed Grounds: Return To Elm Street
* Freddy vs. The Angry Video Game Nerd
* Expanding the Elm Street Universe: Freddy in Comic Books & Novels
* The Music of the Nightmare: Conversations with Composers & Songwriters
* Elm Street's Poster Boy: The Art of Matthew Joseph Peak
* A Nightmare On Elm Street in 10 Minutes

Running Time: Disc 1 (feature presentation) 240 minutes; Disc 2 (bonus features) 240 minutes (total running time: 480 minutes)"

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Unearthed Films are also releasing Frank Montag's gorefest Slasher [2007] on 4th May, which is another I've been eagerly awaiting.





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Another World Entertainment's release plan for May is pretty varied but includes:

I Sell the Dead [2008]





and

Intruder [1989]





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Last, but certainly not least German/Austrian Hardbox giant X-Rated Kult are to release the gritty '80s Don't Answer the Phone! in three different cover variants.



These can be ordered from D&T Mailorder (among other places) and should hopefully be in stock very soon.

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A lot to look forward to in May, but these releases are just a minute overview. There is so much more available when you search around wide enough and dig deep enough.

CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD BLU-RAY & DVD: Coming in May from ARROW FILMS (UK):

Arrow Films, it seems have done it again. This time it is the seminal Fulci zombie shocker City of the Living Dead, which has received the special Arrow treatment.

Full specs are below:



"CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD

THE DEFINITIVE DVD AND BLU-RAY RELEASE OF LUCIO FULCI’S ZOMBIE CLASSIC.

One of the most revered zombie films of all time amongst horror fans, Lucio Fulci’s classic City Of The Living Dead gets the full Arrow Video treatment on DVD and Blu-ray in May 2010, presenting the film fully restored and uncut and complete with a host of unique and exclusive extras and featurettes (directed by Calum Waddell and edited and produced by Naomi Holwill with associate producer Nick Frame) specially commissioned for this must-have release.

Among the many extras are a newly recorded audio commentary with actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice, an introduction to the film by star Carlo De Mejo and ‘Carlo Of The Living Dead’, a 17-minute featurette in which De Mejo reflects upon his time working with the Italian master of splatter, Lucio Fulci.

The 50-minute ‘The Many Lives And Deaths Of Giovanni Lombaro Radice’ presents an extensive biography of the legendary screen victim, who guides viewers through the making of his most famous gut-crunching classics including ‘House On The Edge Of The Park’, ‘Cannibal Apocalypse’, ‘Cannibal Ferox’ and, of course, ‘City of the Living Dead’.

In addition to providing an alternative audio commentary to the main feature, legendary horror actress Catriona MacCall recalls playing the role of Mary in the film in ‘Dame Of The Dead’ and reflects upon the film 30 years on. Catriona also appears alongside Giovanni Lombardo Radice in a 20-minute retrospective Q&A session exclusively filmed live at the Glasgow Film Theatre following a recent special screening of the film.

Filmed in the Profondo Rosso shop in Rome, ‘Profondo Luigi: A Colleague’s Memories Of Lucio Fulci’ focuses on director Luigi Cozzi (Contamination; Starcrash; The Killer Must Kill Again) who talks about his own memories of Lucio Fulci and the Italian boom in zombie horror, while in ‘Fulci’s Daughter: Memories of the Italian Gore Maestro’, Antonella Fulci, the daughter of the legendary filmmaker, reflects upon ‘City Of The Living Dead’ and visits her father’s sets and speaks about his enduring legacy.

Both the DVD and the Blu-ray releases of ‘City Of The Living Dead’ also come with four sleeve artwork options and a newly commissioned booklet, ‘Fulci Of The Living Dead’, written by Calum Waddell and featuring exclusive new interviews with Sergio Stivaletti (Wax Mask), Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Fulci and Ian McCulloch (Zombie Flesh Eaters) among others, providing an in depth career retrospective on the Grand Old Man of Italian Gore. Plus both releases come with a double-sided poster and six postcards.

Directed by Lucio Fulci (The House By The Cemetery; The Beyond; Zombie Flesh Eaters) and starring Christopher George (Mortuary; The Exterminator; Grizzly), Catriona MacColl (The House By The Cemetery; The Beyond), Carlo De Mejo (The House By The Cemetery; Alien Contamination), Giovanni Lombardo Radice (Cannibal Apocalypse; Demons 3 and 4) and Michele Soavi (Demons; Phenomena; Tenebrae), City Of The Living Dead begins with the suicide of a priest in a church cemetery in the small town of Dunwich, New England. A sacrilegious act, the priest’s death mysteriously results in the opening of the gates of hell and, as fate would have it, it falls upon a reporter, a young psychic, a psychiatrist and his patient to team up and find a way to close the portal before All Saints Day, when the dead will rise and feed upon the living.

A hugely influential and much-admired work of horror cinema by one of the genre’s undisputed masters, City Of The Living Dead, taken purely as a stand-alone film, is a must-see horror classic. Now, this definitive special release from Arrow Video is, without doubt, a must-have for every horror fan.

City Of The Living Dead (cert. 18) will be released a two-disc DVD (£17.99) and single-disc Blu-ray (£22.99) by Arrow Video on 24th May 2010.

Special Features include: newly recorded audio commentary by actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice; audio commentary by actress Catriona MacColl and author Jay Slater; introduction to the film by star Carlo De Mejo; ‘Carlo Of The Living Dead featurette; ‘The Many Lives And Deaths Of Giovanni Lombardo Radice’ featurette; ‘Fulci’s Daughter: Memories Of The Italian Gore Maestro’ featurette; ‘Penning Some Paura’ featurette; ‘Profondo Luigi: A Colleague’s Memories Of Lucio Fulci’ featurette; ‘Fulci In The House – The Italian Master Of Splatter’ featurette."

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This release is planned to conincide with Blue Underground's Blu-Ray version, of whom Arrow have shared the HD master with. The extras are apparently going to vary over both releases, so this will call for a double-dip methinks. I hope to review the Arrow release at the end of May.

GEORGE A. ROMERO’S DAY OF THE DEAD: THE BLU REVIEW

As posted on 23 March, my excitement was finally quenched as Arrow's Day of the Dead Blu-Ray fell through my letterbox yesterday.



Unpacking and admiring all the goodies was the first step; and the amount, and quality of all the extras and the packaging, almost made me forget that there was a couple of discs in there too somewhere... !

The Blu:

Watching this for the first time in a long while (and for the first time in HD) was certainly an enjoyable and engaging experience. Even from Day's opening scenes, you can pick up subtle improvements whether it be the crispness of the brand new DTS HD Master audio track, or a richer, deeper, colour palette, which certainly shows what many consider to be Romero's underrated zombie masterpiece in all its gory glory.

I first saw Day when I was about ten years old, and have to admit that I didn't think much of it back then, or even after a few repeat viewings when I was a bit older. It was only a couple of years ago, really when I began to appreciate it a lot more, and the dystopian claustrophobia that the movie resonates from every pore.

There is a lot to like about Day, really. Pilato is on top form, as the screaming fascist Rhodes, which is perfectly counter-balanced by Cardille's portrayal of the strong but caring heroine Sarah. For me, this film mirrors very well some of the intense dynamic in Romero's Night of the Living Dead that is brought on by the desperation of the characters. Whilst Dawn was more light-hearted in its approach to confinement, Day is a stark grisly contrast, in which you are plunged into the undead epidemic a long time (weeks/months/years) after its inception. You then realise, even from those initial scenes of deserted streets littered with debris and corpses (along with the legendary trademark: 'THE DEAD WALK' headline with the corresponding synth-like drone courtesy of John Harrison's extremely fitting score), and the eventual surge of shambling zombies (including that '80s zombie icon Dr Tongue) onto said streets that humankind are no longer in the majority...

This horde of the undead are only the prelude, as confinement is key to Day's mechanic, in the form of an underground, sealed concrete military bunker. It is here that the emotions of the characters fester, tempers are lost, and the hopes are dashed. It is also here though, that we meet Bub, pet project of Dr 'Frankenstein' Logan who has been issued the task of working with the military in order to find some kind of 'cure' for the undead epidemic. However, no matter how throw-away his 'Frankenstein' nickname (given to him by the bile spitting trigger happy Rhodes) may be, there is certainly an amount of truth to it. He conducts his macabre and never-ending experiments on cadavers (whether civilian or military...) mainly alone, and one would surmise in secret, judging from various shocked reactions to his practices amongst the other scientific staff. However, the inclusion of Bub not only balances out the despair and conflict, but also aids to evolve Romero's undead odyssey into its next phase: zombies who in fact can learn, imitate, and emote.

The various sides and emotional states the ensemble cast of characters exhibit however, certainly make 'Day' one of the darkest entries of the saga, and whilst I still feel it is the weaker of Romero's Dead Trilogy, the sensible casting; especially of Pilato and Cardille, the dark, gloominess of the writing by Romero, and the extremely well executed and constructed make-up effects by Savini and his team all gel together to make one hell of a package.

The Blu-Ray experience of this film only heightens these points, as every scream, gunshot, and mouthful of intestine assaults your senses.

Specifications:

Video: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 / Dolby Digital 2-Channel Stereo
Region 0 PAL Blu-Ray/DVD combo

The Extras:

As for the extras this blows the R1 Divimax version out of the water. Even though the Romero commentary track is absent, (which will mean justification by collectors to own both versions) there are a cascade of features; most of which are unique to the Arrow version. These can be found as a complete list here, but a quick summary as to what my personal favourites are: Day of the Dead: Desertion comic (see below for more details of this phenomenal extra), 'For Every Dawn There Is A Day' booklet by Calum Waddell (one of the main 'culprits' in getting this release to happen in the way it has!), which is very well written and full of fun and insightful info. Waddell is also responsible for the UK only exclusive 'Joe of the Dead' - an interview with Pilato as an extra on the Blu-Ray disc, which is ishot in HD ands an essential watch for fans of the man himself.

The Comic:

A part of the extras, yes; but due to the exclusivity of such an item and the obvious hard work and imagination that has gone into making it, I thought I'd separate Day of the Dead: Desertion out from the other extras. Penned by Stefan Hutchinson and Barry Keating and illustrated by Jeff Zornow, the comic is the icing to this release's filling and luxurious cake. The artwork and dialogue are true to the setting and reflect the edgy mood of the film perfectly, plus (and without giving too much away), the story provides a nice prologue, which leads up nicely to the introduction of Day's favourite and best-known resident zombie: Bub (well, perhaps except for Dr Tongue of course...!).

Having not watched through all of the extras yet (although some I have seen before), I still think it is safe to say that Arrow's package is pretty much the definitive article as far as this film is concerned.

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Rating: Film = 9/10 Package = 10/10

April DVD & Blu-Ray Highlights

With March almost over, here is a taster on what cult, horror, and exploitation delights await us in April...

Another World Entertainment's line-up for April include two cult horror faves in the form of Stuart Gordon's '90s shlock-fest Castle Freak



Castle Freak Trailer:



The second release is Joe Dante's seminal 'creature feature' Piranha



Piranha Trailer



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Next up, following on from the success of their Poultrygeist Blu-Ray release, Troma Films are releasing not one, but three of their titles on Blu-Ray (or green-ray - as their packaging choice indicates) at the end of April. Firstly is The Class of Nuke 'em High





*NOTE: Amazon have Nuke 'em High to be released in May, but other sites have it listed to be released in April along with the other two titles.*

Followed by what to me seems like an odd choice: Dark Nature



A brief synopsis of this pretty unknown film:

Hoping to enjoy a nice holiday in the country, Jane and her rebellious daughter Chloe travel to a remote Scottish community, but their weekend getaway turns into a nightmare as an escalating series of disturbances force them into a desperate fight for their lives. DARK NATURE offers bloody thrills and the blackest of comedy as these women struggle against a brutal attacker who is hiding a secret that threatens to tear them to shreds.

Dark Nature Trailer:



The third title Troma are releasing in April is... Tromeo & Juliet



Tromeo & Juliet Trailer:



Dark Nature is also getting DVD release to co-incide with the Blu, due to it being a new release for Troma. The proposed release date for all three titles, at present, is 27th April.

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US company MYA Communications; who are the re-incarnation of NoShame USA, continue on their rocky releasing path with three new titles planned for April.

Firstly, they are releasing Flavio Mogherini's Crime of Passion (Delitto passionale)



Brief Synopsis:

Famous writer Sonia Petrova is killed after a night spent in a seedy motel with her lover. Her husband Peter is immediately taken in by the police and questioned. Ivan Zanova, the detective investigating Sonia's murder, is aware of the fact that both Peter and his wife had adulterous affairs. When a homeless guy confesses the murder, Zanova believes that this bad case is finally closed. But a few days later, Peter's mistress suffers Sonia's same fate by the hand of a mysterious killer, and Ivan understands that there is more than meets the eye in these two killings.

Next is Sweet Teen (Frittata all'italiana) an Italian sex comedy drama directed by Alfonso Brescia



Brief Synopsis:

An aging businessman marries a much younger woman but he just can't let go of his affair with his secretary. As soon as the young niece of his freshly married wife steps over the threshold of his house, the poor chap can't think of anything else but to bed her by all means. The fiendishly clever girl is very well aware of what the horny guy lusts after, and teases him by tiptoeing around in very short miniskirts which allow a very tasty view of her panties. Desperate and exhausted, the man comes up with a plan that involves a... butcher.

The final MYA title for April is Without a Trace (...a tutte le auto della polizia)



Brief Synopsis:

A heinous murder shakes Rome and its self-complacent upper class at its core. The beautiful daughter of a well known surgeon has been brutally slaughtered. No stone is left unturned to hunt down the killer, but the police investigations are focused mainly on the shady underbelly of the Roman jet set. Soon the truth rears its ugly head: the girl was the innocent victim of an atrocious white slave trade headed by a ruthless Dutchman. Yet he is only a puppet in the hands of a higher ranking puppeteer whose strings are attached to a lot of unpredictable characters.

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The Descent Part 2 also hits UK DVD and Blu-Ray on 12 April




The Descent Part 2 Trailer:



Another coming to UK DVD in April is Dance of the Dead



Brief Synopsis:

It is prom night in middle America. Tuxes have been rented and dresses have been bought. But when the dead unexpectedly rise from their graves to eat the living, it's up to the geeks, the nerds, the outcast and the losers who couldn't get dates to the dance to save the town from the undead. Unlikely heroes will rise to the challenge as they are forced to put aside their differences and band together to fight for their lives. Armed with bats, sledgehammers, garden tools and guitars, this rag-tag group of high-school teens are in for a prom night they will never forget.

Dance of the Dead Trailer:



Originally released on DVD in the US as part of their Ghost House series, this finally makes it to UK DVD on April 19th.

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Coming from Camera Obscura on 21st April, is the eagerly awaited next title in their 'Italian Genre Cinema Collection' series: So Sweet, So Dead (Rivelazioni di un maniaco sessuale al capo della squadra mobile)



Camera Obscura have picked up right where the previous company, Sazuma left off in releasing these, frankly sumptious packages.

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And that's a taster of what's to come in April. Along with the above titles, there are also plenty of other releases for any self-respecting horror film fan to get their teeth into.