Upcoming stuff (Shout Factory etc)

Shout Factory look like becoming one of the forerunners in Blu-ray exploitation: it's been a while since their line of Roger Corman B movies arrived (a great selection that included Forbidden World and Galaxy of Terror) but new announcements under its 'Scream Factory' brand include (note that this is all in the US territory, and they may be region locked as were the former Corman discs) Halloween II and Halloween III Season of the Witch (haven't seen this for nearly twenty years) special editions in September, with audio commentaries and featurettes on each disc, plus both containing limited edition posters in the first 500 copies (surprisingly II also contains an additional disc - DVD - of a rarely seen television version of the movie).  Beyond that they will be bringing John Carpenter's They Live to Blu (let's hope they pick up Prince of Darkness too), the slasher crazed Terror Train (something I'll be picking up), Tobe Hooper's pretty decent Funhouse (already got the Arrow of this one), Phantasm II (the rights to this series in the US are spread all over the place, so a boxed set seems unlikely - still cherish my old Anchor Bay UK DVD set), and one of Wes Craven's boring flicks - Deadly Blessing.  There are a couple of other minor titles to be released in the same series: The Island (Peter Benchley's 1980 pirates-on-a-mysterious-island film rather than Michael Bay's slicker science fiction action ride) and the 1982 serial killer-stalking-mother/boyfriend/son film Death Valley.  Shout are to be commended for digging up some of the less likely stuff for HD restoration, that's for sure!

I'm hoping to catch Prometheus at Birmingham's Giant Screen (formerly branded as an IMAX cinema) in the next couple of weeks, but pre-orders are being taken for various editions of this over at Amazon.com already (nothing on Amazon UK as yet).  It was of course shot in 3D (as the film world goes kinda 3D crazy) so there'll be all sorts of permutations on this one.  On the subject of Ridley Scott Bladerunner is being released (US again) in a 45th anniversary incarnation - I thought my five disc f**king set was the ultimate edition!  Anyway, upgrades on the previous set appear to be minor in disc content at the moment (though the book packaging looks kinda nice).

Remember Riccardo Freda?  He was part of the golden age Italian Gothic horror movement, being involved as he was with the direction of I Vampiri (which appeared towards the end of the fifties) and The Ghost.  One of his most notorious films has never been properly available on disc: The Terror of Dr Hichcock, with Barbara Steele in a pretty classic Gothic tale of the supernatural and suggested necrophiliac lust.  There is an Italian only disc on the Medusa label, and I believe there was a lacking DVD of the short version floating around the US from a company called Video Dimensions.  I used to own the UK Stablecane video cassette before selling it as VHS effectively died at the end of the nineties, and have been eagerly awaiting a decent digital release of this ever since.  Well it could be on the horizon, but who has picked it up?  Bloody Mya Communication, the company with so many interesting films in their roster, almost all of which have been pretty roughly treated.  And with those guys we may as well forget about a Blu-ray.  Oh well, be thankful for small blessings - looks like forking out a lot of money for substandard product... (I hope I'm proved wrong).