The first day of December brings the gift that keeps on giving. After a several year wait when we were beginning to wonder if we’d get at least part 3 of SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT on DVD simply to complete the “Ricky Trilogy”, we get all 3 remaining franchise titles courtesy of Lionsgate. Stuff your stockings with this 3-Disc set…
Scorpion Releasing unleash the er, silence on November 24!
Young co-ed Scotty (Rebecca Balding – The Boogens) is unable to find housing on the campus. She finds a vacancy at the Engels’ mansion, now a boarding house for college students. Mrs. Engels (Yvonne De Carlo, TV’s The Munsters) and her son seem nice enough, but it becomes clear to Scotty that something is not right at her new residence. When her fellow borders begin dying, two detectives (Cameron Mitchell – Toolbox Murders and comedian Avery Schreiber, in a serious role) must solve the mystery of the Engels’ boarding house before the body count rises.
Disc Features:
Anamorphic Widescreen transfer (1.78:1)
Audio commentary with writer/producers Ken and Jim Wheat and star Rebecca Balding
SCREAM OF SUCCESS: 30 YEARS LATER
SILENT SCREAM: THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT
THE WHEAT BROS.: A LOOK BACK
Director DENNY HARRIS’ Final Audio Interview
Rebecca Balding Interview
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spot
Press Release: A 3-Disc audio and video exploitation extravaganza featuring over 7 Hours of the most rare and unusual exploitation trailers, TV ads and radio spots from the age of GRINDHOUSE CINEMA! Plus original new content inspired by the amazing fictional b-movie world of Stephen Romano’s exploitation novel, SHOCK FESTIVAL!
Hitting tomorrow on October 27th from Mya/Ryko is an old one you might not be familiar with – EVIL FACE (1974) starring the eternally disturbing Klaus Kinski.
Baron Ivan Rassimov, a brilliant doctor, died horribly during a fire burst in his laboratory. Since that day, his daughter Tanja (Katia Christine) retired to a life of reclusion, covering with a dark veil her disfigured face. Professor Nijinski (Klaus Kinski) was once a student of Rassimov; he married Tanja, and he’s trying to restore her lost beauty with a series of skin transplants. However, to reach his goal, professor Nijinski needs beautiful young victims for his transplant experiments.
On October 27, Jonathan Lewis’ BLACK DEVIL DOLL is finally released! See what all the fuss is about.
Five beautiful young women… one evil, murderous puppet.
Heather thought that a Ouija board was nothing but an innocent child’s game. Little did she know, this child’s game would open a flaming door to hell and re-animate the soul of a recently executed black militant serial killer! With his spirit now trapped in the body of a trash-talking ventriloquist doll, Heather and her friends must fight off the unrelenting horrors and unspeakable deviant advances of a three foot killer with a taste for young flesh and warm blood. Can they stop the BLACK DEVIL DOLL?
Check out the most talked-about independent cult film of the year of the year and find out for yourself–or ELSE!
SPECIAL FEATURES :
-5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound mix
-Five (!) Audio Commentaries, one by the Black Devil Doll Himself!
-Three Exclusive Black Devil Doll Trailers
-Film Festival Clips
-Rare Footage from the New Beverly Cinema Hollywood Premier!
-Three Black Devil Doll animated short films!
-Behind the scenes still gallery!
-Rare interviews with the Black Devil Doll!!!
WARNING – THIS FILM OFFENDS EVERYONE!
Slasher fans rushing to Wal-Mart in search of Happy Birthday to Me should keep their eyes open for the $5 Gore House Greats Collection. Most of the 12 films in the collection rank somewhere between bloody awful and drive-in trash, but there are two little gems that should interest slasher addicts.
Terrified is a proto-slasher from 1963. The story involves a masked killer stalking an old western ghost town. Anyone who crosses his path gets a cement bath for his troubles. There are elements in Terrified that reminded me of Tourist Trap and Scream (1985). The killer is pretty twisted for an early 1960s horror film. When surrounded by cops, the killer begs the Final Girl for a few minutes of pleasure before he dies.
The best film in the collection (and the main reason I bought it) is Terror, a British film from 1978 that mixes elements from slashers and Suspiria. Gore is heavy and the murders are brutal. Even better, there are several creepy scenes that ooze suspense and atmosphere. Overall, Terror is an excellent shocker.
Streeting October 13th comes the new HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME DVD from Anchor Bay, featuring the original theatrical score that was previously replaced for the Sony edition a few years back, plus restoring original cover elements.
More slasher and proto-slasher discs are on their way.
October 13: The Stepfather
This terrific 1987 slasher has been M.I.A. on DVD for far too long. Lost’s Terry O’Quinn stars as a family man who, when disappointed by his family, simply kills them, changes his identity, and moves on to a new family until they, inevitably, disappoint him too. A Shout! Factory release, the Stepfather disc features a commentary from director Joseph Ruben, a retrospective documentary, and the original US theatrical trailer. US retail: $19.99
October 13: The William Castle Collection
Once they’ve gone OOP, some discs of William Castle’s fun flicks are notoriously hard (i.e. expensive) to get a hold of. Sony Pictures rectifies this to some degree (it packs a mighty price tag) with the release of The William Castle Collection, including Homicidal (see Proto-Slashers review on this site) and Straight-Jacket, starring Joan Crawford as an axe-murderess who is released after years in an asylum. The set also includes 13 Frightened Girls, 13 Ghosts, Mr. Sardonicus, the remake of James Whale’s classic The Old Dark House, The Tingler, and Zotz. The collection features a ton of extras, but missing from the set are I Saw What You Did (again, check out Proto-Slashers here for deets), Macabre, House on Haunted Hill, and Night Walker. Cover art unavailable at this time. US retail: $80.95
November 24: The House on Sorority Row (25th Anniversary Edition)
A terrific slasher flick in the classic mold, 1983’s The House on Sorority Row is a must-have for any slasher fan. After a prank goes awry, someone starts killing the sorority sisters of Theta Pi. Full of memorable characters, smart directorial choices, set pieces, and suspense, HOSR was originally released by Elite Entertainment on DVD in 2000 and again in 2003. The OOP dics are currently selling online around the $50 mark. Liberation Entertainment make this more assessable to slasher fans with a space in their DVD collections for a bloody sorority house. Special Feature details to come. US Retail: $19.95
DVD releases of slasher classics — pristine, uncut, and in their original aspect ratios — are certainly the best thing to come out of the glut of lame slasher movie remakes. Despite the limp PG-13 reincarnations, renewed interest in the originals has created a boon for slasher fans. Sit back, tense up, and enjoy!
Scarecrows have had a troubled history in cinema. With perhaps the exception of The Wizard of Oz and Batman Begins, the majority of movies that they appear in tend to be shite.
On October 13th, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME comes home, again, in a more befitting release. You may remember Columbia’s DVD featured a shockingly uncalled for cover, and the soundtrack had been replaced seemingly due to music rights issues.