The Fear... The Terror... The Nightmare... They Will Never Forget It!!!
Scorpion Releasing has announced that they are working on extras for a Kino Lorber Blu-ray and DVD release of 1984's "Monster Dog." The film was directed by Claudio Fragasso and stars Alice Cooper. Pictured above is the tentative cover art. The Blu-ray and DVD are expected to be released in March 2016. So far the known extra is a 43 minute retrospective featurette, LORD OF THE DOGS, with interviews from Claudio Fragasso, Rossella Drudi,and Roberto Bessi produced by Walt Olsen of Scorpion Releasing and Freak-O-Rama productions. Synopsis: Rock star Vince Raven (Alice Cooper) returns home after 20 years to make a new music video. While filming, Raven is informed by the town sheriff that a mysterious wild dog has been killing people in the area. The sheriff also suggests that perhaps Raven knows something about it. It seems that, years earlier, Raven's father was accused of being a werewolf and was subsequently murdered by the townspeople. Now everyone suspects Raven, including his girlfriend, Sandra (Victoria Vera).
Kino Lorber has announced plans to bring the 1953 sci-fi monster film "The Magnetic Monster" to Blu-ray. The film was co-written and directed by Curt Siodmak and stars Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Jean Byron and Leo Britt. There is no information on special features yet and no release date has been set. More information to come as we receive it.
Synopsis (from wikipedia): A pair of agents from the Office of Scientific Investigation (OSI) are sent to investigate a local appliance store, where all of the clocks have stopped at the same time, and metal items in the store have been magnetized. The source of this is traced to an office located directly above the store, where scientific equipment is found, along with a dead body. There are also signs of radioactivity, but the cause of the difficulties itself is clearly no longer in the room, or the immediate area.
Investigation and request for citizen input eventually lead to an airline flight carrying a scientist, Dr. Howard Denker, who has developed signs of radiation sickness related to something in a heavy briefcase he carries and clutches irrationally. Before dying, he confesses to have been experimenting with an artificial radioactive isotope, serranium, which he had bombarded with alpha particles for 200 hours (8 days and 8 hours). Unfortunately, his so-far microscopic creation has taken on a life of its own: it must absorb energy from its surroundings every 11 hours, and in the process doubles in size and mass each time, releasing deadly radiation and incredibly intense magnetic energy.
More Monster Madness Coming to Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber has announced they will be bringing the 1967 sci-fi film, "Yongary, Monster From the Deep" to Blu-ray and DVD on January 5, 2016. Synopsis: In the Middle East, a bomb is set off that creates massive earthquakes. Meanwhile, in South Korea, a young couple is about to get married and the tension builds when South Korea sends a manned space capsule to investigate the bomb site. The earthquake makes its way to South Korea, caused by a giant monster named Yongary (inspired by a mythical creature in Korean lore). Yongary attacks Seoul and makes his way to the oil refineries where he consumes the oil. A child related to the aforementioned couple turns off the refineries' oil basins; Yongary, enraged, starts attacking until a chemical explosion at the refinery proves to have an effect on it.
Special Features:
Audio commentary by film historian Steve Ryfle and writer/critic Kim Song-ho
The Sci-fi horror film coming to home video from Kino Lorber
Kino Lorber announced plans to bring the 1955 sci-fi horror film "The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues" to Blu-ray and DVD on January 5, 2016. The film was directed by Dan Milner.
Oceanographer Ted Stevens (Kent Taylor) meets Bill Grant (Rodney Bell), government investigator, at the scene of another beach murder caused by a hideous sea monster that stands guard over a glowing underwater Uranium mine. Meanwhile marine biologist Professor King, who created the monster in his laboratory, is being pursued by a beautiful femme-fatale who is blackmailing or killing everyone in sight in an effort to acquire King's top secret files for the Russians. The Beast With 1,000,000 Eyes! Extraterrestrial terror is keeping an eye out for human flesh in this horrifying tale of invasion! After a strange craft crash lands near a rancher's home in the California desert, the Rancher's family believes the danger has passed. But when they are attacked by animals driven into a rage by the alien force, they realize that something did survive the crash....and it's hoping to take in its first meal on Earth....ranch style.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Audio commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith
Scorpion Releasing has posted the tentative cover art for the Blu-ray release of Janet Greek's 1988 horror film, "Spellbinder." The Blu-ray is scheduled to be released in January by Kino Lorber. So far the news of extras that will be included on the Blu-ray are:
Audio Commentary with director Janet Greek
Interview with actor Anthony Crivello
Theatrical Trailer
Synopsis: Across a dark street in Los Angeles, a beautiful young woman is being brutally assaulted by an abusive boyfriend. Young lawyer Jeff Mills (Tim Daily, "Wings") rushes to the woman's defense... and crosses into a world of unimaginable evil. On the surface, the young woman, Miranda Reed (Kelly Preston, "Jerry Maguire"), is a dream come true, the perfect lover, a miracle healer and a soulmate. But before two days have passed, Jeff lives a real-life nightmare, an encounter so intense, death is almost merciful. Because, Miranda is a fugitive from a bloodthirsty cult and they want her back. Back by the Unholy Night of the Winter Solstice. Back in time for a human sacrifice.
She was only a little girl. She lived in a great big house... all alone. Where is her mother? Where is her father? Where are all the people who went to visit her? What is her unspeakable secret? Everyone who knows is dead.
Above, is the tentative (reversible) cover art for the 1976 film, "The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane" directed by Nicolas Gessner. Walter Olsen from Scorpion Releasing is working on some extras for the Kino Lorber Blu-ray. There's nothing official yet, but it sounds like we may get an interview with Martin Sheen and possibly a commentary track with the director.
Quiet, withdrawn 13-year-old Rynn Jacobs (Jodie Foster) lives peacefully in her home in a New England beach town. Whenever the prying landlady (Alexis Smith) inquires after Rynn's father, she politely claims that he's in the city on business. But when the landlady's creepy and increasingly persistent son, Frank (Martin Sheen), won't leave Rynn alone, she teams up with kindly neighbor boy Mario (Scott Jacoby) to maintain the dark family secret that she's been keeping to herself.
Kino Lorber will be bringing the 1977 film "The People That Time Forgot" to Blu-ray. They are hoping to have it out in November. Walter Olsen of Scorpion Releasing will be producing some extras for the release. The only information available on special features so far is there should be a couple interviews.
When a message is found from lost explorer Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) detailing a prehistoric world at the center of the Arctic Circle, fellow adventurer Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne) gets a newspaper to sponsor a search. The search takes McBride to the tropical oasis Tyler wrote about, the isle of Caprona, where he meets a feisty cavegirl named Ajor (Dana Gillespie). She explains that Tyler has been kidnapped by a warrior tribe called the Naga. Now it's up to McBride to rescue him.
Directed by Kevin Connor, the film stars Patrick Wayne, Doug McClure and Sarah Douglas.
Walter Olsen of Scorpion Releasing announced that Kino Lorber will be releasing the 1966 film, Queen of Blood on Blu-ray. Directed by Curtis Harrington, the film stars John Saxon, Basil Rathbone and Dennis Hopper. The film tells the story of an alien ship that crash-lands on Mars. Then a rescue ship is sent to look for survivors. They only find one, that turns out to be an alien vampire, who starts killing the crew. Mr. Olsen says the release will feature brand new interviews with historian Robert Skotak and producer Roger Corman.
Tentative cover art shown below.
The Blu-ray is not available yet, but you can stream it on Amazon.
Released by:Kino Lorber Release Date: October 21, 2014 Region Code: A Running Time: 1:27:19 Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Video: 1080p (1.85:1 Aspect Ratio) Subtitles: None THE FILM
'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, Santa Claus is stirring, and he's not bringing gifts. Five young female boarders at the Calvin Finishing School for Girls have set their sights on a festive Christmas holiday romp. They have just drugged their housemother and smuggled their boyfriends into the house. But their fun-filled promiscuous frolic will soon turn into a blood-soaked nightmare when a sadistic maniac dressed as Santa Claus arrives to deliver some holiday cheer, or maybe that's FEAR. The insane Santa Claus starts slashing his way through the house, and the gory body count begins. So you better watch out, as this Santa knows if you've been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! Jennifer Runyon (in her film debut) stars in this 1980 slasher cult-horror favorite, directed by David Hess (Krug in Wes Craven's Last House on the Left) and written and produced by Alex Rebar (The Incredible Melting Man).
I've always enjoyed this film even though it doesn't tend to rank too high with many others. I can't put my finger on what it is that makes me like it. I personally don't think it's very good. But on a scale of one to ten, I would rate it a six. I do like slashers. Make that, I love slashers, particularly those from the 1980's. Plus it does revolve around a holiday, so that tends to add more interest for me.
AUDIO:
The only audio option for this disc is English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono. The track does a fair job with the score, sound effects and dialogue even though the sound quality falters a bit during several lines of dialogue in the film. It's most likely due to the source and it's not as if the dialogue is unintelligible. It's just not always crystal clear. Fear not, it's not often and not off-putting. I'd give the audio a 3/5.
VIDEO:
"To All a Goodnight" makes it high definition debut thanks to Kino Lorber. The film is presented in 1080p with a 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. Kino Lorber deserves some thanks and they will at least get mine, for releasing this film in HD. For a long time fans had to suffer with nothing but a dark and shoddy VHS release. But now in "dark scenes" we can actually see more of what is going on. It reminds me of a similar situation with "The Final Terror" from Scream Factory. I had no real hope of seeing this get an HD release since at one time I had read that "To All a Goodnight" was always going to look dark because of the way it was shot. Well, so much for that because Kino Lorber did a really nice job. There is heavy grain, most notably in darker scenes. But those that don't mind or like film grain, probably won't take issue with it. I didn't mind it one bit. To me, grain simply adds to a film, helping it show its age and looks more authentic as opposed to most films now shot digitally with a very shiny and polished look. To me, horror just looks better shot on film. But I digress. Colors look good with reds definitely looking bright as you can see from some characters outfits and of course, the Santa suit. Black levels leave a bit to be desired but no real complaints. Fine detail is good at times in brighter scenes and close-ups with characters faces, hair and clothing fairing well.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
In addition to the following, this disc also features a Chapter Selection Screen. There are no subtitles included. Thanks go to Scorpion Releasing for helping provide some extras for this release.
Jennifer Runyon Interview (12:30) - Ms. Runyon talks fondly about the film, how it was her first job as well as other films and TV shows in her career.
Katherine Herrington Interview (9:37) - Ms. Herrington discusses her use of an alias for her credit on the film as well as her trouble working with Director David Hess. She explains how she objected to a few things he wanted done in some scenes in the film. Overall, she comes off as mostly negative regarding the film, in my opinion. But she's at least honest about it.
Alex Rebar Interview (13:39) - Mr. Rebar served as the films Executive Producer and Writer. He talks about many aspects of the film making process including writing the script and how they shot the film in ten days. Mr. Rebar also discusses other films in his career including "Demented" and "The Incredible Melting Man."
Theatrical Trailer
IN CONCLUSION:
While not a top tier slasher film, "To All a Goodnight" still has a home at least among 80's slasher fans. It's also part of the killer Santa, film club. I'm thankful to Kino Lorber for releasing this. They did a nice job on this Blu-ray. This is a huge improvement over the previous VHS release and fans of the film should not hesitate to purchase a copy. If the film is new to you, it might be in your best interest to watch at a friends house or rent it if you happen to have a store close by that carries this film. If you are a big slasher fan, I would blind buy this Blu-ray. The trailer below should give you an idea whether this is the sort of movie you would like or not.
Kino Lorber will be bringing "Burnt Offerings" to Blu-ray on October 6, 2015. "Burnt Offerings" tells the story of Ben and Marian (Oliver Reed and Karen Black) who are surprised to find a mansion out in the country that they can cheaply rent for the summer. As they settle into their isolated estate with their son and Ben's Aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis), they discover a lot more that is hard to believe.
The film was directed by Dan Curtis and stars Oliver Reed, Karen Black, Bette Davis, Burgess Meredith, and Eileen Heckart.
The Blu-ray will contain the following Special Features:
• Brand New 2015 HD Master • New On-camera Interview with actor Anthony James • New On-camera Interview with screenwriter William F. Nolan • New On-camera Interview with actor Lee Montgomery • New Audio Commentary by Film Historian Richard Harland Smith • Audio commentary with director/co-writer/producer Dan Curtis, actress Karen Black, and co-screenwriter William F. Nolan • "Trailers From Hell" with Steve Senski • Animated Montage of Images • Original Theatrical Trailer
Walter Olsen of Scorpion Releasing announced the details for the upcoming Blu-ray release of Lisa (1990) that Kino Lorber will be releasing.
The film was directed by Gary Sherman (Dead & Buried, Poltergeist II) and stars Staci Keanan (Step By Step, My Two Dads), Cheryl Ladd (Charlie's Angels), D.W. Moffett (Switched at Birth, For Your Love), Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent, Arrested Development). The Blu-ray is scheduled to be released September 22, 2015
Synopsis: The film is about a teenage girl who lives with her mother and has too much time on her hands. Lisa and her friend get the phone numbers of men by using the license plates from their cars. They then call these men for something fun to do. Unfortunately for Lisa, she happens to call a crazy killer and trouble ensues.
Blu-ray Special Features
Audio Commentary with Director Gary Sherman On camera interview with star D.W Moffett On camera interview with Gary Sherman and Editor Russ Albert Original Trailer BD-50/Dual layered
