Synapse Blues (and a little Code Red...)

US based company Synapse are on a Dario Argento Blu-ray stint this year: They're releasing his Lamberto Bava-directed productions Demons and its sequel (but they'll have to go some to beat the Arrow releases of these).  They're also putting out Phenomena (again, Arrow's Blu-ray is already a winner so I'll most likely stick with that) and of more interest is Tenebrae - the UK Blu-ray of this film is troubled so I will be anxious to see how the new disc turns out.  Synapse are covering the dirtier side of Blu with Fairy in a Cage, on their Impulse label.

Meanwhile Code Red have announced (DVD only unfortunately) the first official disc release of the seventies horror black comedy The Folks at Red Wolf Inn, which I've always been interested in checking out.

Arrow Blues...

A number of fantastic looking Mario Bava Blu-rays are on their way courtesy of UK distributors Arrow Films, including Black Sunday / Mask of Satan, Lisa and the Devil  / House of Exorcism, Baron Blood, and Black Sabbath.  Amazing stuff by the looks of it.

Black Sabbath (a classic 60s portmanteau film with Boris Karloff in one segment) features:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; ‘I tre volti della paura’ – the European version with score by Roberto Nicolosi & ‘Black Sabbath’ – the re-edited and re-dubbed AIP version with Les Baxter score
• English SDH subtitles for English Audio and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio
• Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
• Introduction to the film by Alan Jones
• A Life In Film – An Interview with star Mark Damon
• Three Faces of Black Sabbath, comparison of the different versions of the film
• Trailers and radio spots
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by David Cairns and an interview with AIP Producer Samuel Z. Arkoff on his experiences of working with Bava, conducted by Tim Lucas, illustrated throughout.

Baron Blood (recently released by Redemption but looking altogether more comprehensive here):

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of three versions of the film: ‘Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga’ with Italian opening and closing titles and ‘Baron Blood’ with English opening and closing titles and the European English export version audio, and for the first time on home video, the AIP version with alternate score by Les Baxter 
• Three audio versions: Optional Italian, European English and AIP English re-dub and re-score 
• English SDH subtitles for both English versions and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio
• Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
• Bava’s 1972 film ‘Four Times That Night’ presented on Blu-ray and DVD
• Introduction to Baron Blood by Alan Jones
• Trailers and radio spots
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys 
• Booklet featuring new writing on the films by Oliver James and Pasquale Iannone, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

Black Sunday, probably the ultimate Italian Gothic Horror, features:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; The Mask of Satan – the European version with score by Roberto Nicolosi & Black Sunday – the re-edited and re-dubbed AIP version with Les Baxter score
• Three audio versions: Optional Italian, European English and AIP English re-dub and re-score
• English SDH subtitles for both English versions and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian audio (frankly, f**king awesome, at last!)
• Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
• Introduction to the film by Alan Jones
• Interview with Barbara Steele
• Deleted Scene from the Italian version with notes by Tim Lucas
• Trailers
• I Vampiri (1956), Italy’s first ever sound-era horror film directed by Riccardo Freda and Mario Bava
• Trailer reel – trailers of all the major works by Mario Bava
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Booklet featuring new writing on the films by Matt Bailey and Alan Jones, as well as a statement by Riccardo Freda on I Vampiri and Bava, translated from the original Italian for the first time, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

The ill received but now cult Lisa and the Devil features:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of both versions of the film: Lisa and the Devil and The House of Exorcism producer’s cut
• Optional English and Italian audio on Lisa and the Devil
• English SDH subtitles on both features and a new English subtitle translation of the Italian Audio of Lisa and The Devil
• Audio Commentary on Lisa and The Devil by Tim Lucas
• Audio Commentary on The House of Exorcism by producer Alfredo Leone and star Elke Sommer
• Introductions to both films by Alan Jones
• The Exorcism of Lisa – Assistant Director Lamberto Bava, screenwriter Roberto Natale, Roy Bava and Alberto Pezzotta discuss the making of both versions of the film
• Deleted Scene
• Original trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Stephen Thrower, an interview with Bava from 1976, translated from the original Italian for the first time, illustrated with original stills and archive posters.

Redemption Blues...

Some great Blu-ray announcements from Redemption for the upcoming months (presumably through Olive Films).  They'd already mentioned that Grapes of Death (Jean Rollin's zombie film with the fetching Brigitte Lahaie), Oasis of the Zombies (Jess Franco) and Zombie Lake (one of Jean Rollin's lesser films) were coming to Blu-ray - those will be out on February 26th for the latter two and March for the former.  Zombie Lake actually looked very good on DVD I thought so the fact that this is being remastered from the original negative makes it a moderately interesting proposition (if only the film was better!).

Also, though, the sci-fi skinflick Zeta One (which featured the lovely Yutte Stensgaard in a small role) is on its way in March, the classic hallucinatory Nude For Satan (Luigi Batzella) also, and Jean Rollin's softcore flick Schoolgirl Hitchhikers - the latter did briefly appear on DVD but seemed to disappear almost as quickly, so I'm definitely picking that up (along with most of the others) on Blu.  Rollin's barren sci-fi orientated film Night of the Hunted is also likely to be out in March.  After a Pete Walker boxed set they are also putting out the films individually for those people who didn't want the whole set - these include The Comeback, Die Screaming Marianne, House of Whipcord, and Schizo.  Finally, Sinful Nuns of St. Valentine will also come to Blu in a few months.  I must say Redemption have launched an unprecedented all-out assault on the Blu-ray market over the last year, and put Synapse, Media Blasters, and Blue Underground's lazy output to shame!

UK Blues: Drac is Back

Very nice news that the Hammer restoration team has been working on the 1958 Terence Fisher version of Dracula (Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, et al).  It's one of the studio's most admired films and the team have been aiming to restore it with AWOL footage that was decades ago excised by censors and found more recently in Japan (making this release the most complete ever), as well as presenting it in 1.66:1, which looks like the most likely intended aspect ratio (though no doubt there will be some fans finding something to moan about as they always do nowadays).  There has been a question mark over the ratio in the past, but they have conducted investigations and comparisons, as well as showing a few sample shots to illustrate over at their blog - 1.66:1 is a nice balance between Academy (1.37:1) and 'scope ratios, and my personal favourite, plus it was more widely used around the period, particularly in Europe, so I'm certainly happy with that decision.

I was never particularly enamoured with the film myself, disliking they manner in which the opening narrative set-up deviated significantly from the book.  However, that was back in the nineties and after also having viewed it on video cassette a few times - the new HD version is cause for re-evaluation so I will be picking this up on Blu-ray.  It will be released on 18th March in a pack consisting of 1 Blu-ray and 2 DVDs (i.e. everyone is catered for with one purchase, though there are no serious film fans who still buy everything on DVD in my opinion...) which will include a commentary plus new featurettes.  Probably region-locked, this is a good one for UK Blu-ray fans (and non-region B fans with multi-region players!).

Code Red Stuff...

Code Red have announced a few titles for 2013 on DVD, some of them looking like they're gonna wind their way towards my shelves: one of Lucio Fulci's latter day, and lesser liked (but not that bad in retrospect I suppose) flicks, Voices From Beyond, the Italian sex comedy from the 70s Love By Appointment (or Holiday Hookers or Natale in Casa d'appuntamento) which was directed in the seventies by prolific cinematographer Armando Nannuzzi, Mark Lester's TV adventure film Gold of the Amazon Women (with Anita Ekberg and Donald Pleasence), Vengeance by Anthony Dawson (Antonio Margheriti of course), and an obscure Italian comedy called John Travolto... Da un Insolito Destino (AKA John Travolto, The Face With Two Left Feet...!).

They've also alluded to the possibility of a release of Vampire's Night Orgy, one of my favourite Spanish vampire films from the 70s, which was directed by Leon Klimovsky.  Hopefully this will be the full version and a better transfer than what we've had to endure in the past (although I've been thankful to see it on DVD at all).  There is also an early eighties slasher by the name of Trick or Treats, which looks like an inferior Halloween clone, but if you're into slashers you've gotta have 'em all, regardless... Then there's the teens vs demons genre covered with Curse of the Blue Lights (1988), and Death Wish-esque revenge thriller The Mad Bomber (Bert Gordon, 1973) uncut on home video for the first time.

Most surprisingly of all, Code Red are dipping one bloody toe into Blu-ray waters with a couple of announcements: the mid-seventies murder mystery The Electric Chair in a director's cut - prepare yourself because it looks like Maria Kanellis will be 'gracing' this one with her presence.  And possibly of greater interest is the debut of the notoriously gritty Nail Gun Massacre on Blu via a new HD master, presented in both widescreen and fullscreen.  I wouldn't go expecting Night of the Demon on Blu any time soon though...

Finally, there is a new HD transfer being undertaken of the semi-classic slasher Just Before Dawn which will be competing with Shriek Show's now out of print two disc edition as well as an uncut, out of print UK release from Odeon; i.e. this will be most welcome whether it's coming out on DVD or Blu-ray (preferably the latter of course, or perhaps a dual edition?).  I'm certainly glad Code Red have stuck with it through tough times.

UK Blues...

Of possible interest, and in some cases marching on their way from the very depths of Hell itself, are the following Blu-ray Discs:
Killer Joe with some romcom pretty boy supposedly giving a chilling performance...
Dark Knight Rises wrapping up Nolan's trilogy, along with a boxed set of all three natch;
Amazing Spider-Man in various permutations, including an enticing looking 3D Blu;
A 30th anniversary box of Blade Runner, which should contain some discs of interest to UK fans who missed the stunning 5 disc Blu-ray set that was released in the States a few years ago;
Resident Evil: Retribution on 2D and 3D, the series that knows now end, even when the world has...
A nice looking digibook edition of the King Kong remake - whilst this is all very welcome I'd still rather the studios put out some of their AWOL titles rather than multiple editions of just their bigger money earners;
David Cronenberg's latest, Cosmopolis, in November;
A Christopher Nolan collection containing the three Batman films of his, Memento, and Inception - pity it couldn't have been genuinely complete and included Insomnia and his vaguely interesting first feature Following;
A 3D Blu of Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder - it was of course originally shot/projected in 3D so it will be great to see this film via a transfer that approximates its theatrical appearance;
Paranorman in both 2D and 3D, which looks like a great film;
V/H/S and House at the End of the Street;
The Japanese classic Onibaba courtesy of the Masters of Cinema series;
A really promising looking Black Sunday (Mario Bava) from Arrow in January;
Wes Craven's Deadly Blessing, again from Arrow;
Hot on the heels of Redemption's Lisa & The Devil is Arrow's own release;
Crawl and Grave Encounters II;
Plus a couple of Radley Metzger films from Arrow - The Score and Lickerish Quartet
Intruder from 88 Films!  Nice to see the UK getting a release;
And nice to see something else making its UK HD debut: Django from Argent Films in January;
And just in time for Christmas, The Snowman on Blu for its 30th anniversary!

A couple of things arriving on DVD that I wish were coming out on Blu, but look quite 'ownable' nonetheless:
Vampire Ecstacy from a company called MediumRare, which I'm hoping is the full (or possibly even both) version of The Devil's Plaything - if so, and the price is low (I won't pay much for a DVD nowadays) I will pick it up;
House of 1000 Dolls with Vincent Price, again from MediumRare;
House with Laughing Windows - one of my favourites from Shameless, but why can't they put this out on Blu?  I doubt if I will buy it again on DVD but anxiously await a HD presentation.  Still, for those that don't own it, this one should really be on your shelves, being one of the best 70s Italian chillers in my opinion.

UK Blues...

Of interest to many horror/exploitation fans is the upcoming Zombie Flesh Eaters Blu-ray (or Zombie to American fans, or Zombi 2 in its purest sense) from Arrow Video in the UK in December (the date has been put back slightly).  This is reportedly a transfer being produced from original negatives, and featuring branched versions of the film so you can watch with any set of pre/post credits to suit the title/tongue you prefer/know best.  Choice of languages is either English or Italian, with English subtitles available, and a mountain of extras.  You can pick up the film as a limited steelbook, a dual Blu-ray/DVD, or one of Arrow's more standard slipcase sets with a choice of cover artwork.  I think the set and artwork looks great personally, and highly promising.  Everyone of course is already aware of the fact that Blue Underground have put out single and double BD editions of the film stateside, with positive results, so one can only hope that this edition is even better.

Tu Nu Blu(s)...

In connection with the recent Piranha (2010) review, the wonderfully promising Second Sight Films are putting out the original on UK Blu-ray in January.  Of course the film has been available for some time in the US from the equally fantastic Shout Factory, but this will open up the film for collection in HD to whole new batch of eager fans.  It will feature an audio commentary, several featurettes, out-takes, and more.  Also on its way in 2013 from the aforementioned Shout (more specifically, their subsidiary, Scream Factory) is the supernatural horror movie Prison - I rented this out on video cassette nearly twenty years ago and remember it being pretty good, so I may be checking this surprising Blu-ray out further when it appears next year.

Upcoming...

Nucleus Films (UK) have surprisingly got Night of the Bloody Apes through uncut for the first time ever in England - maybe the BBFC have finally realised this ridiculous ex-nasty is unlikely to mess with the minds of today's youth, given the fact that society's already gone to pot and all that...  Presented in anamorphic widescreen with either English or Spanish audio options (plus subtitles), the DVD also features a few trailers for other Nucleus material, trailers for this film, a still gallery, and a clip of 'feminist' Patricia MacCormack from their Nasty's Guide (not sure why this self-righteous narcissist has to keep tarnishing our genre with her existence, and even less sure why people pay her for it!).  I've got the Something Weird disc (doubled with Feast of Flesh); I may have considered the Nucleus version for the Spanish audio track alone, if it were not for the presence of MacCormack...  Anyway, this is otherwise quite welcome as the full stop to this rather bad film's notoriety in the UK.  DVD released yesterday.

UK Blues...

Lots of nice shit to look out for in the near future - on Blu-ray in the UK:

Child's Play (the one with Chucky) and Misery at the beginning of October;
Blade, which I personally wasn't a great fan of, which joins its sequels which are already out;
The lovely Prometheus in lots of different incarnations also near the beginning of October;
A dual release of the Japanese head-fuck-fest Tetsuo and Tetsuo II from Third Window Films;
Halloween 4 and 5 for extremely generous prices from Anchor Bay (probably the same as the US equivalents);
Vincenzo Natali's highly innovative debut feature Cube;
The 3D onslaught continues with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter;
The surprising appearance of the Basket Case trilogy... as a bloody steelbook(!);
Company of Wolves, again as a steelbook following an earlier, more conventional release;
Puppet Master II and III from the extremely promising 88 Films (the first one's already out);
The Blood Beast Terror, an oddly subdued Peter Cushing flick about human-moth hybrids;
Joined together for the first time (sorry...), The Human Centipede 1 and 2, in steelbook form;
At the beginning of November, the Ghostbusters return as a steelbook;
Hellboy and The Evil Dead also land in steelbook form, probably lazy releases with no changes to the discs themselves (aaarrrgggghhhh!  Evil Dead should be 1.33:1, not widescreen!);
Santa Sangre seeing its British HD première;
Subspecies, again from 88 Films;
Zombie Flesh Eaters from Arrow (steelbook, plus dual, plus LE 4-sided cover etc) - let's hope they hit the ball out of the park on this one;
The Titty Twister Edition (i.e. a boxed set with loads of paraphernalia) of From Dusk Till Dawn;
An 8 film, 10 disc boxed set devoted to most of the stuff Quentin Tarantino is known for;
Castle Freak has unfortunately been pushed back until January; mine's on pre-order.

UK Blues...

Lots of interesting stuff on its way in the UK, and a surprising amount of it is exclusive to UK Blu-ray at the moment: in October we get another Hammer restoration batch in The Devil Rides Out (with documentary, restoration featurette, one of the old World of Hammer TV episodes, and a commentary with Christopher Lee, Marcus Hearn - who's been penning those beautiful books from Titan - and Sarah Lawson), Rasputin The Mad Monk (with two new documentaries, another TV episode of World of Hammer, and a commentary by Christopher Lee, Barbara Shelley, Francis Matthews and Suzan Farmer), plus The Mummy's Shroud (featuring a couple of new documentaries plus trailers).  All very exciting that this is happening.  Also though, they've been around for a while but Second Sight are bringing some fantastic stuff to HD: following their recent announcements for the Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon material that I'm really looking forward to, there are also plans to put David Cronenberg's The Brood and Scanners on the shelves around the end of the year (they're also looking at releasing Scanners 2 and 3 at the same time).  Of course these have all previously been released to DVD in the UK by Anchor Bay, so I expect these new Blu-rays to be much improved (the 'unrated' version of The Brood on the UK DVD was a bit messy).

UK Blu-rays Coming Up

Fine news that Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon movies are about to be treated with Blu-ray releases on UK shores: 88 Films are releasing Castle Freak at the end of October, which follows closely on the heels of their respected DVD.  Second Sight are putting out the eternally wonderful Re-Animator (which is also appearing Stateside courtesy of Image), as well as the lesser known but still enjoyable From Beyond.  Brian Yuzna is represented in terms of the slight misfire that was Bride of Re-Animator and the much better goo-fest that is Society.  I suspect 'butt-head' is gonna look even less attractive in HD...  Autumn's gonna be lavishly gruesome!

Visceral Visions: They Live

The rather prolific Shout Factory have announced John Carpenters eighties sci-fi They Live in a rather cool looking Blu-ray package for early November.  Obviously this will be 'scoped and full HD, though audio commentary and other extras are to be confirmed.  If you order direct from Shout Factory at the moment you'll get an edition limited to 500 that contains an 18"x 24" poster showcasing the rather nice front cover artwork.  There will also be a Personally I want Prince of Darkness on Blu, which is looking closer to possibility.

Visceral Visions: Basket Case Trilogy

Something Weird's US Blu-ray of the awesome Basket Case is a great one, but UK-based Second Sight are going one better and releasing all three movies on Blu in a single steelbook edition (spread over three discs) on October 22nd.  Extras should include a documentary on all three films, an interview with film poster artist Graham Humphreys, audio commentary from Frank Henenlotter, outtakes, short film, trailers, video introduction from the director, and other promotional material.  A surprising announcement.

Visceral Visions: The Evil Dead

Always a title to guarantee a few sales, Sony/Columbia Tri-Star are re-releasing The Evil Dead on Blu-ray in the UK on 5th November 2012 as a steelbook.  This almost coincides with the early 2013 release of the dreaded remake...  No specs on the wonderful 1982 gris-fest as yet but I'm very much guessing that it will be the same as the previous Blu-ray - though I'm actually hoping this is not the case, as I was rather disappointed that on the disc already released UK fans only got the cropped 1.85:1 version (in the US the disc contained both widescreen and the uncropped fullframe image - undoubtedly the preferred viewing method for this 16mm classic).  If it contains the 1.33:1 version, I'm buying; if it doesn't, I'm not.

Visceral Visions: The People Who Own The Dark

One of the elusive Paul Naschy films that I've wanted to see for a while now is the Leon Klimovsky directed Último Deseo, or The People Who Own The Dark, a post apocalyptic film shot in the seventies about a group of people trapped in a mansion as undead-like characters mill around outside.  Awesome news then (well, awesome minus one, as this is DVD only) that Code Red have just released the film to disc, with two versions contained therein.  Have ordered my copy straight away as it is limited to just 400 copies - already the scum profiteers have picked their copies up in order to resell on ebay at vastly inflated prices... Buy direct from Code Red and give your money to the guys who deserve it, not the profiteers!

*Update: You can read The Grim Cellar's review here.

From Hell To Your Machine: Universal Monster Movies

One of my favourite DVD acquisitions over the years has been the Universal monster movie legacy set - with the busts of Bela Lugosi/Dracula, Lon Chaney Jnr/Wolf Man, and Boris Karloff/Frankenstein's creature visible through the transparent frontage, it looks absolutely cool on the film shelf.  Well finally Universal are putting out a package in the US of some of these films on Blu-ray in October of this year.  Containing Dracula (both the English language and South American versions), Frankenstein, Bride of..., The Mummy, Invisible Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon (in 3D believe it or not, allowing it to be seen as in its original theatrical projection so many decades ago), The Wolf Man, and Phantom of the Opera the nine film set is spread over eight BDs and comes with a 48 page book, plus there are plentiful extras (looking like they've been culled from the earlier DVDs).  Whilst this is very exciting, and the idea of seeing such classics as the Whale movies and Dracula mastered in full HD is positively mouth-watering, admittedly I've never been so bothered about the Creature... movie and Phantom..., although the idea of seeing the fifties monster movie in its native 3D (of course transferred for modern Real 3D technology) is interesting.  I would like to see some of the Dracula and Frankenstein sequels make it to Blu.  There is a similar boxed set coming out in the UK (1st October), which contains all of the above films including the Spanish Dracula, and very reasonably priced it is for pre-order.  Seems some of these are also getting individual Blu-ray releases in the UK around the same time.

On a related note, and similarly positive, is Universal's decision to release the spoofy but surprisingly effective Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein on Blu at the end of August, to include a featurette and commentary, plus DVD/Digital Copy of the film.  Of course this was previously released in the UK on DVD as part of a huge boxed set devoted to the duo, and on an individually available disc where it was coupled with the inferior ...Meet The Mummy.  Great disc nevertheless.

*Update: Universal are also releasing in the UK a limited edition Coffin Box of the above 8 disc set on Blu-ray, also on October 1st.  Looks pretty good.

From Hell To Your Machine: Black Sunday

As previously mentioned here, Redemption/Kino are exhuming Black Sunday for a restored Blu-ray release on September 18th.  This was, if I recall, the first video cassette I bought by the fledgling UK company back in the 90s, and the film grew on me to a point, around the turn of the millennium, where I decided not to watch it again.  Not because I had gotten bored with it; quite the opposite.  The dubbing drove me nuts, plus it was nastily cropped to fullscreen.  So I had the plan to wait until a version true to its source appeared on DVD - Image put out a nice edition in the early days of the digital format as part of their 'Mario Bava Collection', which was widescreen, but still dubbed in English!  It has also since been released by Anchor Bay as part of a boxed set, and very close to being definitive was a release in Italy by RHV (Ripley Home Video), which actually contained the Italian language track... BUT no English subtitles!!!  It also had a second disc of extras, and restored some previously lost footage to the film.  Here's hoping that Redemption have done their homework and get this one truly right.  They will also be putting out a double of Lisa and the Devil with both cuts so things look promising on the Bava front.

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).

Upcoming Jean Rollin/Redemption Blu-rays, Round 3

Redemption and Kino Lorber are (after Requiem For a Vampire and Rape of the Vampire have been released) putting out Blu-ray Discs of another couple of Rollin films in August, one of his better ones, and one of his lesser (you can probably guess which is which): The Living Dead Girl, a 1982 artfully poetic take on walking death, and one of his later pieces Two Orphan Vampires.  I couldn't quite get into the latter although Shriek Show's DVD wasn't especially good (aside from the ropey image, there were problems selecting the French language audio on the players I tried, and the alternative English dub is god-awful!).  Perhaps a HD re-evaluation may help; I'll probably get both discs.  I have to say I love what Redemption are now doing with these films, and the prolific nature of the releases is perfect, particularly compared to the other collectors' favourites who are releasing stuff pretty slowly on Blu-ray (e.g. Blue Underground, Synapse, Shout, etc).  Whilst I don't believe Redemption ever really did the best they could with DVD, they've suddenly and surprisingly embraced the Blu-ray format.

Just before that in July we can expect The Blood Beast Terror (a 1968 creature feature with Peter Cushing) and Burke and Hare (the 1972 Armitage film of course rather than the more recent re-telling with Simon Pegg and Gollum as the titular characters...).  One more film of interest coming our way around the same time as the aforementioned titles is Black Magic Rites (previously also released as The Reincarnation of Isabel), a completely insane occult exploitation nuthouse from the lovable Renato Polselli.  There is also word that we will be in the salivating possession of the following BD products in the not-too-distant: Virgin Among The Living Dead (Jess Franco - hopefully the proper version without the stupid wandering dead Rollin inserts, or perhaps both common versions branched), Female Vampire (Jess Franco), Exorcism (probably Demoniac - er, Franco again!), Frightmare, Die Screaming Marianne (both Pete Walker), Lisa and the Devil, plus - FFS! - Black Sunday/Mask of Satan!  Please, God of Exploitation, let the latter have an Italian language track!  I'm in for a year of drunken nights in by the looks of it...