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Impulse Pictures Releases naughty Nikkatsu 'Nun Story' and 'White Rose Campus' in July 2018

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NUN STORY: FRUSTRATION IN BLACK (1980)

Label: Impulse Pictures
Release Date: July 10th 2018 
Duration: 69 Minutes
Rwgion Code:1
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono with Optional English Subtitles  
Director: Nobuaki Shirai
Cast: Eri Kanuma, Nami Misaki, Yuri Yamashina

A young woman takes a vow to become a nun for the rest of her life. Now known as "Sister Maria," she settles in at the local monastery for her new life of poverty, chastity and obedience. Maria soon discovers something horrifying is happening within its locked gates... Something beyond mere sin! The nuns are being mercilessly tortured and when they try to flee, they suffer a worse fate! After a brutal assault, Maria discovers she is now pregnant. Knowing it is strictly forbidden for any nun to have relations with men, Maria must figure out how to escape her own living Hell!

Nikkatsu Films is famous for their controversial and sexually-themed films, but with NUN STORY: FRUSTRATION IN BLACK they tackle one of the most forbidden taboos with explicit nunsploitation.

Special Features:
- Newly Translated Removable English Subtitles


 
WHITE ROSE CAMPUS (1982) 

Label: Impulse Pictures
Release Date: July 10th 2018 
Duration: 66 Minutes
Region Code: 1
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: Japanese Dolby Digital Mono with Optional English Subtitles  
Director: Koyu Ohara
Cast: Nami Misaki, Ayako Ota, Waka Oda, Makato Mino

A relaxing and fun White Rose Academy field trip turns horrifying when a school bus full of young girls is hijacked by rifle wielding, cross-dressing thugs. These sex-crazed maniacs have no agenda except to fulfill their own sexual desires. Soon all the "ugly" girls are thrown off the bus and those that remain are subjected to unspeakable assault and terror. Will any of them escape this living nightmare?

Prepare yourself for WHITE ROSE CAMPUS, one of the most notorious, controversial, and offensive titles ever released from Nikkatsu Film Corporation. This 1982 oddity makes its North American DVD debut from Impulse Pictures in a new anamorphic widescreen transfer with newly-translated, removable English subtitles. Watch it, if you dare!

Special Features:
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Newly Translated Removable English Subtitles



Own Ready Player One on 4K UHD Combo Pack, 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD on July 24th, or Own It Early on Digital HD on July 3rd!

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EXPERIENCE THE EPIC ADVENTURE WHEN
READY PLAYER ONE (2018)
ARRIVES ONTO 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY, 3D COMBO PACK, BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK, DVD AND DIGITAL HD FROM
WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Own it early on Digital HD on July 3rd
Blu-ray debuts on July 24th

Burbank, CA, May 22 – Join an immersive virtual universe when “Ready Player One” arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital HD. From Warner Bros. Pictures, Amblin Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures, along with filmmaker Steven Spielberg, comes the action adventure “Ready Player One,” based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name, which has become a worldwide phenomenon.

“Ready Player One” stars Tye Sheridan (“X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Mud”), Olivia Cooke (“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” TV’s “Bates Motel”) and Ben Mendelsohn (“Rogue One – A Star Wars Story,” TV’s “Bloodline”). The ensemble cast also includes Lena Waithe (TV’s “Master of None”), T.J. Miller (“Deadpool,” TV’s “Silicon Valley”), Philip Zhao, Win Morisaki, Hannah John-Kamen (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”), Simon Pegg (the “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible” movies) and Oscar® winner Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies,” “Dunkirk”).

Three-time Oscar® winner Spielberg* directed the film from a screenplay by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. It is based on the novel by Cline, which has now spent more than 100 weeks on The New York Times Best Sellers List, recently climbing to the No. 1 spot, as well as reaching No. 1 on Amazon’s Most Read Fiction chart. “Ready Player One” was produced by Donald De Line, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg and Dan Farah. Adam Somner, Daniel Lupi, Chris deFaria and Bruce Berman served as executive producers.

“Ready Player One” will be available on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack for $44.95, Blu-ray Combo Pack for $35.99 and DVD for $28.98. The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack features an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc with the theatrical version in 4K with HDR, a Blu-ray disc featuring the theatrical version and a Digital version of the movie. The Blu-ray Combo Pack features a Blu-ray disc with the film in hi-definition, a Blu-ray disc with the special features in hi-definition, a DVD with the film in standard definition and a Digital version of the movie.

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc of “Ready Player One” will feature Dolby VisionTM HDR that dramatically expands the color palette and contrast range and uses dynamic metadata to automatically optimize the picture for every screen, frame by frame.

Also, the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D discs of “Ready Player One” will feature a Dolby Atmos® soundtrack remixed specifically for the home theater environment to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. To experience Dolby Atmos at home, a Dolby Atmos enabled AV receiver and additional speakers are required, or a Dolby Atmos enabled sound bar. Dolby Atmos soundtracks are also fully backward compatible with traditional audio configurations and legacy home entertainment equipment.

“Ready Player One” will also be available on Movies Anywhere. Using the free Movies Anywhere app and website, consumers can access all their eligible movies by connecting their Movies Anywhere account with their participating digital retailer accounts.

Fans can also own “Ready Player One” via purchase from digital retailers beginning July 3rd




SYNOPSIS
In the year 2045, the real world is a harsh place. The only time Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) truly feels alive is when he escapes to the OASIS, an immersive virtual universe where most of humanity spend their days. In the OASIS, you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone—the only limits are your own imagination. The OASIS was created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance), who left his immense fortune and total control of the OASIS to the winner of a three-part contest he designed to find a worthy heir. When Wade conquers the first challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends—known as the High Five—are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and danger to save the OASIS and their world.


BLU-RAY AND DVD ELEMENTS
“Ready Player One” 4K Ultra HD 3D Blu-ray and Blu-ray Combo Pack contains the following special features:
- Game Changer: Cracking the Code
- Effects for a Brave New World
- Level Up: Sound for the Future
- High Score: Endgame
- Ernie & Tye's Excellent Adventure
-  The '80’s: You’re The Inspiration

“Ready Player One” Standard Definition DVD contains the following special features:
-  The '80’s: You’re The Inspiration

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION ELEMENTS
On July 3, “Ready Player One” will be available to own in 4K HDR from select digital retailers including iTunes, Google and Vudu. It will also be available in high definition and standard definition on favorite devices from select digital retailers including Amazon, FandangoNow, iTunes, PlayStation, Vudu, Xbox and others.

On July 24, “Ready Player One” will be made available digitally on Video On Demand services from cable and satellite providers, and on select gaming consoles.

ABOUT MOVIES ANYWHERE
Movies Anywhere simplifies and enhances the digital movie collection and viewing experience by allowing consumers to access their favorite digital movies in one place when purchased or redeemed through participating digital retailers.  Movies Anywhere brings together the movies from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film, The Walt Disney Studios (including Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm), Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Participating digital retailers at launch are Amazon Video, Google Play, iTunes and Vudu. Movies Anywhere offers a library of over 7,300 digital movies at launch, including new releases, and will continue to expand the consumer experience as more content providers, digital retailers and platforms are added. Using the free Movies Anywhere app and website, consumers can connect their Movies Anywhere account with participating digital retailers and enjoy their favorite digital movies from the comfort of their living room and across multiple devices and platforms, including Amazon Fire devices; Android devices and Android TV; Apple TV; Chromecast; iPhone, iPad and iPod touch; Roku® devices and popular browsers. Consumers can also redeem digital codes found in eligible Blu-ray and DVD disc packages from participating studios and enjoy them through Movies Anywhere. Movies Anywhere is available to residents of the United States, its territories, and certain associated states. For more information, visit www.moviesanywhere.com.

BASICS

PRODUCT SRP
4K Ultra 3D Blu-Ray Combo Pack - $44.95
Blu-ray Combo Pack - $35.99
DVD Amaray (WS) - $28.98

Standard Street Date: July 24th
EST Street Date: July 3rd
DVD Languages: English, Latin Spanish, Canadian French
BD Languages: English, Latin Spanish, Canadian French, Brazilian Portuguese
DVD Subtitles: English SDH, Latin Spanish, Parisian French
BD Subtitles: English, Latin Spanish, Canadian French, Brazilian Portuguese
Running Time: 140 minutes
Rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence, bloody images, some suggestive material, partial nudity and language

Lionsgate is proud to announce the thriller 'You Were Never Really Here', starring Joaquin Phoenix, arriving on Digital July 3rd and on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital), DVD, and On Demand July 17th.

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YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE (2018) 

Early EST: 7/3/18
Blu-ray™/DVD Street: 7/17/18
Blu-ray™ SRP: $24.99
DVD SRP: $19.98

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Golden Globe® winner Joaquin Phoenix (Best Actor – Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy, Walk the Line, 2006) is “haunting” (Chris Nashawaty, EW) in You Were Never Really Here, arriving on Digital July 3 and on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital), DVD, and On Demand July 17 from Lionsgate. Based on Jonathan Ames’s novella of the same name, and written for the screen and directed by award-winning director Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin, Ratcatcher), this Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh™ gritty thriller won Best Actor and Best Screenplay at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Also starring Ekaterina Samsonov, Alessandro Nivola, and Judith Roberts, the You Were Never Really Here Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $19.98, respectively.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS
A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.

CAST
Joaquin Phoenix  - Walk The Line, Gladiator, The Master
Ekaterina Samsonov  - Anesthesia, The Ticket
Alessandro Nivola - American Hustle, Face/Off
Judith Roberts - Eraserhead, TV’s “Orange Is the New Black”

Trailer: https://youtu.be/7k9eU2bkPPw
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youwereneverreallyhere/
Instagram: @youwereneverreallyhere
Twitter: @YouWereNeverMov
#BringTheHammer

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Year of Production:  2018

Title Copyright:  You Were Never Really Here © 2017 Why Not Productions, Channel Four Television Corporation, and The British Film Institute. All Rights Reserved. Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2018 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Type: Theatrical Release
Rating: R for strong violence, disturbing and grisly images, language, and brief nudity
Genre: Thriller, Action
Closed-Captioned: NA
Subtitles: Spanish, English SDH
Feature Run Time: 90 minutes
BD Format: 1080p High Definition 16x9 Widescreen 2.39:1 Presentation
DVD Format: 16x9 Widescreen 2.39:1 Presentation
BD Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master AudioTM
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio

Golden Globe® winner Jim Carrey (Best Actor, Drama, The Truman Show, 1999) stars in the slick crime-thriller, 'Dark Crimes', arriving on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD July 31st from Lionsgate.

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DARK CRIMES (2018) 

Street Date: 7/31/18
Blu-ray™ + Digital SRP: $21.98
DVD SRP: $19.98

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Golden Globe® winner Jim Carrey (Best Actor, Drama, The Truman Show, 1999) stars in the slick crime-thriller, Dark Crimes, arriving on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD July 31 from Lionsgate. This film is currently available On Demand. Based on The New Yorker article, “True Crimes: A Postmodern Murder Mystery,” the film tells the tale of an officer’s pursuit of a murderer whose killings eerily resemble those found in a novel. Dark Crimes also stars Marton Csokas and Charlotte Gainsbourg and will be available on Blu-ray™ and DVD for the suggested retail price of $21.98 and $19.98, respectively.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS
Jim Carrey commands the screen in this spellbinding thriller from the executive producers of The Revenant and Black Mass. When police officer Tadek (Carrey) finds similarities between an unsolved murder and a crime outlined in a book by famed writer Krystof Kozlov, Tadek begins to track Kozlov and his girlfriend, a mysterious sex-club worker (Charlotte Gainsbourg).  As his obsession with Kozlov grows, Tadek descends into a deadly underworld of sex, lies, and corruption to find the shocking, deadly truth.

BLU-RAY/DVD/DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES
- “The Making of Dark Crimes” Featurette

CAST
Jim Carrey - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Bruce Almighty
Marton Csokas - The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Noah, xXx
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Melancholia, Antichrist, Nymphomaniac: Vols. I and II

Year of Production: 2017
Title Copyright: © 2016 LAMF TC LTD. All Rights Reserved.
Type: Theatrical Premiere
Rating: R for strong and disturbing violent/sexual content including rape, graphic nudity, and language
Genre: Thriller, Crime
Closed-Captioned: N/A
Subtitles: Spanish, English SDH
Feature Run Time: 93 Minutes
Blu-ray Format: 1080p High Definition 16x9 Widescreen 2.40:1 Presentation
DVD Format: 16x9 Widescreen 2.40:1 Presentation
Blu-ray Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master AudioTM
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio

THE MATRIX (1999) (4K UltraHD Review)

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THE MATRIX (1999)

Label: Warner Bros. Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 136 Minutes
Audio: Dolby Atmos 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround 5.1, with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 2160p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: The Wachowskis
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano

I remember walking out of the cinema in 1999 after taking in The Matrix and being all like "whoa!", my mind was properly blown by the kung-fu sci-fi actioner, the story of a computer programmer Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves, River's Edge) who also goes by the hacker handle "Neo". As the story unfolds he learns that his perceived reality is really an elaborate virtual simulation created by intelligent machines that have enslaved mankind for hundred of years at this point, having placed all of humanity into fluid-filled pods, immersed in a false digital reality, all the while feeding off of their warmth and electrical activity, effectively turning people into the batteries that power this dystopian future-world while humans believe that their virtual prison is a true reality.

The movie opens with in very noir scenario with the character Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss, Fido) being pursued by police, she's cornered in a room at gunpoint when the film kicks into reality-bending awesomeness as she runs up a wall and the camera does a full 360 degree turn around her as she whoops some serious ass, defying gravity with a kinetic blend of kung-fu and black leather-clad cyberpunk aesthetics. Trinity later makes contact with Neo inviting him to a meet with the resistance leader Morpheus (Laurence Fishburn, John Wick: Chapter 2), who gives him a choice, take the blue pill and remain in his current reality, or take the red pill and have the veil lifted from his eyes. He chooses the red pill and finds his perceived reality literally melting away before his eyes, waking up naked in a goo-filled pod where he basically flushed down the drain by the machines, where he is picked-up by Morpheus in a hovercraft vehicle named the Nebuchadnezzar. Once on-board he is introduced to the rest of the resistance fighters who have aligned themselves with Morpheus, we have Cypher (Joe Pantoliano, Memento), brothers Dozer (Marcus Chong, The Crow: Wicked Prayer) and Tank (Anthony Ray Parker, Dead Air), Apoc (Julian Arahanga, Once We Were Warriors), Switch (Belinda McClory, Turkey Shoot) and Mouse (Matt Doran, The Thin Red Line). Once they get Neo up to speed he learns of the intelligent machine uprising of the 21st century, of how machine rose up against the humans and enslaved them in the Matrix, pacifying their minds with the illusion of reality, and of how there are freed humans living in a secret city called Zion, and how the Matrix is protected by sentient programs called Agents who manifest as C.I.A. looking spooks in suits, lead by Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings) as Agent Smith. 

Neo is trained in the ways of the Matrix, taught that his strength and skill inside the Matrix world are only limited by his imagination and determination, and niftily he can learn kung-fu and martial arts by simply downloading them directly into his brain through a port created by the machines, leading to a fantastic dojo fight sequence with Morpheus, one of the early highlights of the film, as Morpheus presses him to go beyond his perceived limits while inside the Matrix. . 

The action in this one comes fast and furious, plenty of cyber-kinetic kung-fu action rolled into the heady philosophical mind-fucking, with Neo and the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar re-entering the Matrix and facing off against the dreaded agents while also facing real world threats like the squid-like machine known as Sentinels who hunt the freed humans. Also mixed into this is a budding love story between Neo and Trinity, plus a Christ-like prophecy with Morpheus believing Neo to be the "chosen one" who will lead to the destruction of the Matrix once and for all.

This was mega-hit right out of the gate from what I remember, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars at the box-office, inspiring loads of action and sci-fi films in it's wake, including two sequels of it's own. The kinetic kung-fu action and slick cyberpunk visuals - including "bullet time" - have been aped and re-used ad nauseum since it was revealed here, it was certainly a ground-breaking movie, though the cyberpunk, mind-bending sci-fi and dystopian elements were seen previously in films like Dark City (1998) and Strange Days (1995), but this is the one that captured movie goers attentions the most, it expanded on and perfected what those films hinted at. 


Audio/Video: The Matrix (1999) arrives on 3-disc Blu-ray/4K UltraHD + Digital from Warner Home Entertainment with a new 4K transfer from the original camera negative, supervised by the film’s director of photography, Bill Pope (Baby Driver) framed in 2160p HD Widescreen (2.39:1), and the results are potent. The image has a pleasing layer of film grain, it's crisp and finely detailed with facial details and textures coming through as never before, this is a very pleasing upgrade in fine detail and texture. Color grading is notably different than past editions have been, the somewhat overwhelming green hue has been toned down, the skin tones look more natural as a result, but the new color-grading isn't perfect in my eyes, it fluctuates quite a bit, and some of the whites do seem slightly blown in certain scenes, but overall I find this to be a nice upgrade that brought me lots of enjoyment.

Onto the audio, we get choice of Dolby Atmos or Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes, strangely the lossy Dolby Digital is the default audio option, with optional English (and many other languages) subtitles. The audio presentation for the Matrix has always been fantastic, from the cinema to the first DVD and onto the previous Blu-rays, but this new 4K presentation includes a new Dolby Atmos track, which is also included on the Blu-ray, that is simply stunning, the bass rumbles deeply, scenes of bullet-fire and breaking glass come through crispy and powerfully, everything is nicely balanced with the pulsing score pounding away, it's truly an ear-gasm of sound. 


Onto the extras we get what looks to be everything from the past releases ported over, with the 4K disc and Blu-ray containing the feature films plus a written introduction from the Wachowskis, and the four audio commentaries which includes a critic's commentary, a philosophers commentary, cast and crew and one from the composer, the highlight is the philosopher's commentary, it adds a lot to the viewing experience. Disc one also includes the In-Movie Experience which features commentary and video interviews that pop-up during playback. A second Blu-ray contains the rest of the extensive special features which are quite good, it's been years since I re-watched any of them, so it was a fun revisit. 


This 4K release comes housed in a black 4K keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the white rabbit, which I'm not too keen on, but it does include a slipcover with a slightly more attractive artwork, but not by much. I think my favorite artwork for the original Matrix release was the Best Buy exclusive Steelbook with the pod artwork, I would have loved that for this release. 

Special Features:
- Written Introduction by the Wachowskis
- “Philosopher” Commentary by Dr. Cornel West and Ken Wilbur
- “Critics” Commentary by Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson
- “Cast and Crew” Commentary by Carrie-Anne Moss, Zach Staenberg and John Gaeta
- “Composer” Commentary by Don Davis with Music Only Track
- The Matrix Revisited (123 min)
- The Music Revisited (
- Behind the Matrix (33 min)
- Follow the White Rabbit (23 min)
- Take the Red Pill (18 min)
- Marilyn Manson “Rock is Dead” Music Video (3 min)
- Teaser Trailer (1 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- TV Spots (4 min)

The Matrix (1999) still looks great some twenty years later, though some of the leather-clad visuals haven't exactly aged well in my opinion, and the digital Sentinels and scenes of the digitally created Nebuchadnezzar cruising through the utility tunnels of the future stand out as not being seamless integrated, especially with this 4K presentation, but otherwise I'm still impressed by the production design and detail that went into this one. The fight-sequences are outstanding and well shot, the energy and momentum combined with the gravity defying special effects in 4K are still mesmerizing,

This release was sent by Warner Bros. for review on the site, but this did not effect the review one way or the other, the review is my own. 

ANNIHILATION (2018) (4K UltraHD+Blu-ray+Digotal Review)

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ANNIHILATION (2018)
Label: Paramount Pictures 
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 115 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueHD 7.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 2160p HD Widescreen (2.39:1) 
Director: Alex Garland 
Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac, Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez, Sonoya Mizuno 

I was thoroughly  impressed with director Alex Garland's debut film, the A.I. tale Ex Machina (2015), and I was excited to see what he would bring us next. He was already a talented sci-fi screenwriter before Ex Machina with films like 28 Days Later and Sunshine to his name, but his directorial debut was both electrifying and stunning. With his sophomore bit of direction he gets to play in a larger sandbox with the story of a meteor impacting the Earth on the coast of Florida, it strikes a lighthouse which become ground zero for a strange phenomena dubbed the "shimmer", a multi-colored translucent curtain that envelopes the area around the lighthouse, slowly expanding deeper into a swamp, threatening to eventually swallow more heavily inhabited areas. The military have quarantined the area and sent in multiple military forces to investigate, but communication is lost once the men enter the shimmer and the men never reappear, save for one. After having disappeared for over a year on a secretive military mission Army Special Forces soldier Kane (Oscar Isaac, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse) returns home unexpectedly to the surprise of his still grieving wife Lena (Natalie Portman, The Professional), a cellular biologist, who clearly believed him to be dead. 

His startled wife presses him for details about his whereabouts for the past year but he's not forthcoming with any specifics, in fact he seems unable to recollect exactly what happened at all, which upsets her. Soon after arriving he falls ill and begins to bleeds from his nose leading to Lena calling an ambulance, en route to the hospital they are intercepted by military police who take both to a military facility known as Area X and placed in quarantine. There Lena is questioned by psychologist Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight) who interogates her questions about her husband's strange reappearance, in addition to informing her about the "shimmer", explaining that it's an electromagnetic field of alien origins that's been expanding for three years, inside the perimeter plants and animal are transformed in strange ways, animals are hybridized, even humans who enter the shimmer are transformed as well. 

With her husband quickly deteriorating from systemic organ failure cellular biologist Lena joins Ventress on a research mission into the shimmer in hopes of obtaining information that could possibly save her husband's life, or at least give her an understanding of what happened to him. The team consists of physicist Josie Radeck (Tessa Thompson, Thor: Ragnarok),  geomorphologist Cass Sheppard (Tuva Novotny, Stoned) and paramedic Anya Thorensen (Gina Rodriguez, TV's Jane the Virgin). Once inside the team quickly discover that their communications do not work and they experience a reoccurring loss of time and they cannot seem to get a bearings. Eventually make their way to an abandoned military base where Kane and the previous expedition holed up for a a period of time, there they find a memory card from a video camera which contains video of Kane and the others cutting open one of the soldiers while he's still alive, revealing that his intestines are moving around like the coils of python inside of the man.  

Along the way a sense of hopelessness and dread settle upon the group, they're attacked by a mutated albino alligator with what looks to be the teeth of a shark, and a hideous emaciated looking bear with a harrowing shriek that sounds like it's screaming "help me", mimicking the voice/cries of one of the women who was attacked and carried off by the beast earlier, it's a strange and dread-filled touch, and the attack is brutal. The beast tears the lower jaw off of one of the women in the process, her tongue left hanging from her torn mouth, there's not a lot of gore, but what there is is pretty damn disturbing, just wait till you see what happens to the corpse of the man with the squirming intestines! The group also begins to crumble as the women begin to contemplate what exactly is happening, turning on one another when it is revealed that Lena's husband was part of the earlier expedition, a fact that was known only to Lena and Dr. Ventress but kept from the remainder of the group. 

The film is based on a novel by Jeff VanderMeer which I've never read, but it bares more than a passing resemblance to the H.P. Lovecraft short story "The Color Out of Space" which has been adapted many times before (Die Monster Die, The Curse II), it tells the story in flashback (as Annihilation also does) of a meteorite that lands on Earth, transforming the landscape and afflicting the local inhabitants, I'm not saying it rips it off but it certainly is heavily influenced by it in many ways, as I have not read the novel I cannot say if this is something shared by the source material or something brewed into the adaptation.  

Set in the transformed swamps of Florida (but cleverly shot in England) the film balances a familiar setting with a subtle alien transformations, we see strangely hybridized flowers, deer with tree-like antlers, strange fish, and crystalline trees, all set among the dense canopy of moss covered trees drenched in pervasive fog, it's familiar yet alien all at same time. The hybrid creatures and transformed plant life are cool looking, though I would have loved to see more of creatures, but what we do get is pretty great. The film comes to a deeply satisfying discovery/encounter when some of the surviving team finally make their way to the epicenter of the event at the lighthouse that I thought was a real showstopper, with Lena discovering the true fate of her husband in a mind-bending sequence. It's something strange, unknowable and hard to describe, which was a lot of the essence of what Lovecraft wrote about, definitely falling into the category of a slow-burn sci-of tale along the lines of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey in that it's a movie that moves along decidedly paced with a stunning visual event that caps it off, but still maintains a lot of it's mystery, and I liked it a lot, I didn't love it, but I've watched it three times this week, and each time I was more and more intrigued by the questions and ideas it posed, not just of alien encounters but of human grief, loss and environmental issues. 
  
Audio/Video: Annihilation arrives on 4K UltraHD and Blu-ray on this 2-disc set from Paramount Pictures, framed in the theatrical aspect ratio of  2160p HD widescreen (2.39:1). For a science fiction film I will say that visually the movie has a bit of a subdued color palette, there's a lot of lush green swamp canopy punctuated by some muted colors, a lot of it shrouded of fog, but the 4K does offer some crisp visuals with nice clarity, resolving the fog nicely, details of the mutated creatures and plant life which populate the swamp look fantastic.  The effect of the prismatic shimmer which envelops the area has a nice unearthly quality about it, the purples and greens of it have a good intensity in 4K. It looks true to the theatrical but might not be the truly eye-popping 4K UltraHD experience some might be hoping for visually.  

Audio comes by way of both English Dolby Atmos with optional English subtitles, the Atmos track strong and robust, the sounds of the surrounding swamp come to life in the surrounds, and the score from of Ben Salisbury and Portishead's Geoff Barrow (Ex Machina) is nicely atmospheric but also menacing throughout, particularly during the stunning finale which becomes an overwhelming symphony of low-end frequency and dread-making sounds. Everything is razor sharp and crisply delivered, dialogue is never hard to decipher. 

Onto the extras we get three 2-part featurettes which add-up to about 72-minutes in total. These feature contributions from the director, cast, cinematographer and special effects crew members, it goes into adapting the source material, the shooting locations, selecting the cast, creating the digital and practical effects, I found it all very interesting, this is a film that doesn't button up a lot of questions you might have after watching it, and truthfully the extras don't either, but I enjoyed hearing about the process of making the film. 

The 2-disc 4k/Blu-ray release is a Best Buy exclusive for the time being, it comes in a black 4K keepcase with a one-sided sleeve of artwork and a slipcover with the same art. The artwork itself is a standard issue photo-shopped floating head style number that doesn't impress on any level. As a side note, I do wish that they would not print the HDR box directly on the slipcover and the sleeve, what an eyesore!   

Special Features: 
Part 1 Southern Research 
- Refractions (11 min) HD
- For Those That Follow (15 min) HD
Part 2 - Area X
- Shimmer (12 min) HD
- Vanished Into Havoc (15 min) HD
Part 3 - To the Lighthouse
- Unfathomable Mind (12 min) HD
- The Last Phase (8 min) HD

Annihilation (2018) is a science fiction film of the brain-tingling variety, it's not a alien shoot 'em up disguised as science fiction movie, it's a sci-fi film that makes you think, it inspires wonder, and might leave some viewers thoroughly unsatisfied, but it's exploration of environmental and behavioral ideas are interesting. We get some healthy world building and visuals with a healthy dose of Lovecraft-ian other-worldliness made for a great watch. I've watched it three more times this week and each viewing brought a bit more understanding but more questions than answers, but that's the sort of the sci-fi I tend to love. It's a slow-burn that generates wonder not finality, highly recommended for fans of thoughtful sci-fi and Lovecraftian horror.   

Lionsgate is proud to announce the third and final season of Ash vs Evil Dead, starring Bruce Campbell, arriving on Digital May 25th and on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD August 21st

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A SUPERNATURAL WAR IS BREWING!

ASH VS THE EVIL DEAD 
SEASON 3

The Final Season Buzzes onto Digital May 25TH and on
Blu-ray™ and DVD on August 21ST from Lionsgate

SANTA MONICA, CA (May 23, 2018) – Legendary horror icon Bruce Campbell (The Evil Dead Franchise) stars in the “truly insane, awe-inspiring, and gruesome” (Merrill Barr, Forbes) final season of “Ash vs Evil Dead”: Season 3, arriving on Digital May 25 and on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD August 21 from Lionsgate. Experience the final season of the hilarious, critically acclaimed, most-watched comedy series on Starz® that follows-up the classic horror film The Evil Dead. Alongside Campbell, “Ash vs Evil Dead”: Season 3 also stars Lucy Lawless (TV’s “Xena: Warrior Princess” and “Spartacus: War of the Damned”), Ray Santiago (Meet the Fockers), Dana DeLorenzo (A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas), and newcomer Arielle Carver-O’Neill (TV’s “Worst Year of My Life, Again!” and “Suburbs”).

“Ash vs Evil Dead”: Season 3 features Ash, who – having gone from urban legend to hometown hero –discovers that he has a daughter. And, when Kelly witnesses a massacre with Ruby’s fingerprints all over it, she returns to warn Ash and Pablo.

The “Ash vs Evil Dead”: Season 3 Blu-ray and DVD include audio commentary with executive producer Rob Tapert on every single episode, and will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97 and $34.98, respectively.

BLU-RAY / DVD / DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES
- Audio Commentary with Executive Producer Rob Tapert on every episode

Trailer: https://youtu.be/68YmFCge8Fg
Facebook: facebook.com/ashvsevildead/
Twitter: @AshvsEvilDead
Instagram: @AshvsEvilDead
#AshVsEvilDead

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Year of Production: 2018

Title Copyright: Ash vs Evil Dead © 2018 Starz Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2018 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Type: TV-on-DVD
Rating: TV-MA (for Adult Content, Adult Language, Graphic Violence)
Genre: Horror, Comedy, Action
Closed-Captioned: N/A
Subtitles: Spanish, English SDH
Feature Run Time: approx. 300 Minutes
Blu-ray Format: 1080p High Definition 16x9 Widescreen 1.78:1 Presentation
DVD Format: 16x9 Widescreen 1.78:1 Presentation
Blu-ray Audio: English 7.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Surround

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) (Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray Review)

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NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990)

Label: Umbrella Entertainment 
Region Code: Region-FREE
Duration: 88 Minutes
Rating: R
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen(1.77:1) 
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 with Optional English SDH Subtitles
Director: Tom Savini
Cast: Tony Todd, Bill Moseley, Katie Finneran, Tom Towles, Patricia Tallman

Synopsis: Fleeing from the legion of limping undead, a small group of survivors comprised of Barbara (Patricia Tallman, Army of Darkness), Ben (horror legend Tony Todd, Candyman) and Harry (Tom Towles, Halloween), hole-up in a remote farmhouse and prepare for a bloody onslaught. As the marauding zombies surround the house, tensions between the survivors flare up, desperate to do anything to survive the hideous battle that is before them.

Directed with flair and gusto by leading horror exponent Tom Savini (who provided make-up effects for Romero’s original Dawn of the Deadand Day of the Dead), Night of the Living Dead cuts to the chase and sets the splatter count high – leaving behind a grisly trail of blood and guts, like any good zombie movie should.

Much like the original Romero film the Tom Savini remake opens with siblings Johnny (Bill Moseley, The Devil's Rejects) and Barbara (Patricia Tallman, Army of Darkness) visiting their mother's grave at a rural cemetery - it's as picturesque a location as could hope for in an eternal resting spot with it's rolling green hills overlooking a lake. Johnny is an acerbic and witty sibling who takes pleasure in tormenting his more reserved sister about zombies, intoning the iconic line "they're coming to get you Barbara" with a ghoulish Boris Karloff affectation, while also referencing how horny the dead can be. On cue a disheveled man with a bloody wound on his head stumbles into the scene, you're thinking , there it is, that's the zombie, but in a nice bit of misdirection the man is only dazed and injured, he mumbles an vague apology before wandering off, and while we're watching him from screen left a zombie shows up, Johnny struggles against the fiend for a bit while Barbara screams her head off. Johnny then falls onto a gravestone at a weird angle, his neck snaps, it's a brutal fall that always makes me cringe. The panic-stricken Barbara flees the scene and eventually ends up at a rural farmhouse, where the rest of the film plays out. 

It's at the farmhouse that Barbara meets Ben (Tony Todd, Candyman) who  also finds the house while fleeing the chaos of whatever it is that's happening in the area, a radio informs them that people are turning violent and cannibalistic.  The two set about clearing the house of a few zombies, fortifying the entrances and windows in an effort to prevent the massing zombie hordes from entering the home. They remove doors from entry ways inside the home and barricade the windows, in the process of looking for lumber they discover the house is not as empty as it once appeared, in the basement they find hard-ass Harry Cooper (Tom Towles, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer), his wife put-upon Helen (McKee Anderson), plus their young daughter Sarah (Heather Mazur, TV's Pretty Little Liars), who it turns out was bitten by one of the flesh-hungry fiends. The young girl is deathly ill but no one realizes just yet how dire the situation really is for her and for them yet. Also taking refuge in the basement is a teenage couple Tom Bitner (William Butler,Ghoulies II) and his girlfriend Judy Rose Larson (Katie Finneran, TV's Wonderfalls).

Immediately Cooper rubs Ben the wrong way - both are strong headed men of action who have differing opinions on the best course of action in regard to holding off the zombies, which leads to a loads of hard-headed tension on both end with plenty of drama and physical altercations, with damning consequences. One of the most noticeable departures from the original is that Barbara as portrayed by short-coiffed ginger Patricia Tallman (Babylon 5) is quite the opposite of the nearly catatonic blond Barbara (Judith O'Dea) from the '68 original. Tallman is a red-haired fire-brand, she starts off a bit  on the prissy side but by the film's end she is a straight-up zombie-killing bad-ass, it's a great switch-up and makes for a better film. Tony Todd capably fills the shoes of Duane Jones as Ben - this just might be Todd's finest performance in my opinion, he's a likable guy with good intentions. Special mention goes out to Tom Towels (Stuart Gordon's The Pit and the Pendulum) as the abrasive Harry Cooper, a real bastard, super unpleasant and quite intense, there's a nice exchange of words between his character and Ben as they fight over control of the only TV in the house. I love it when Towles character heatedly calls people "lame brains" and "yo-yos", which he does a lot! 

The film has atmosphere to spare, the rural farmhouse proves to be an claustrophobic setting as hordes of zombies arrive at the farmhouse until they end up falling through the boarded up windows like a mass of swarming insects. The sound of incessant hammering  as windows are boarded up and patched throughout the siege is unnerving, the zombies are slow-moving shamblers, it's creepy stuff, it worked in the original and it work with this one. 

Sadly, this would be the only feature length film directed by splatter-master Tom Savini - though a remake of Nightmare City is in the works -  he's directed some shorts both before and after but this is far and away his finest moment behind the camera. The extras reveal that Savini had some really elaborate Argento-esque gore gags and ideas that were vetoed by Romero and the producers, who apparently meddled quite a bit on this one, keeping Savini from adding his own stylish flair and keeping more to the look and feel of the original film, I still love this one though, but I have to say I really wanted to see some of Savini's ideas executed on film! 

The films is shot in color but like the black and white original it is propelled by chilling atmosphere and dread, not just gore, though there are certainly some great gore provided by the capable special effects make-up team of John Vulich (Re-Animator, The Hidden) and Everett Burell (Dolls) whom created some great zombie make-ups for the film, the undead in this one look fantastic, this is all pre-digital and everything looks wonderfully gruesome, with loads of memorable zombies, including a cool-looking autopsy zombie with the y-incision on his chest. 

The film pretty much sticks to the blueprint of the original Night of the Living Dead (1968) save for a few fun twists, one being the wickedly great finale, there's a delicious irony in Ben taking final refuge in the basement after disputing it so vehemently with Cooper, because as we all know after watching the original, Cooper was actually right about holing up in the basement. I've always said in conversation with my son, if there was a zombie outbreak I'd climb on the roof and lay low for a bit, no one ever seems to do that in movies, but at least temporarily the rood seem like a damn good option, right? Anyway, there's  a fun final twists with Barbara and Cooper that always blows me away with this one, great stuff from the beginning to the end, this is one of the best remakes ever. 

Reversible Artwork
Audio/Video: Night of the Living Dead (1990) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Aussie distributor Umbrella Entertainment in 1080p HD widescreen 1.77:1., the framing is slightly cropped compared to the TT Blu-ray, but only just slightly. Notably this is sourced from a different HD master than the now out-of-print 2012 Twilight Time Blu-ray, which was infamous for having the daylight scenes tinted a heavy blue to simulate dusk, which angered a lot of fans. This Blu-ray corrects that error with the original warmer tones without the blue-tinting, which is excellent news. This looks to be sourced from a theatrical print with the some dirt and minor print damage throughout, mostly by way of white speckling and not much else. Grain looks solid, it's not DNR-scrubbed to death and there's some pleasing fine detail, but the condition of the source is not as well-graded as the Twilight Time version, though I don't think anyone will much mind the slight step down in source quality versus having the original color grading. 
  
Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1 with optional English subtitles, there's some nice atmospheric touches in the surrounds but the majority of the action is front and center, dialogue is crisp and the atmospheric score from Paul McCullough and effects sound great in the mix, robust and immersive. 

Umbrella carry-over all the extras from the previous DVD version, this includes the theatrical trailer, making of featurette and the audio commentary with director Tom Savini, it's a relaxed and scene-specific commentary covering many facets of the film, it's quite an interesting listen as he discusses the numerous splatter scene excised from the film by the MPAA and an alternate death scene for the character of Helen. The TT Blu-ray was missing the making-of piece, but did have an isolated score highlighting the score by composer Paul McCollough (The Majorettes), which this release does not, the TT release also had a booklet with liner notes from Julie Kirgo.  

Umbrella also offer up some new extras produced by Severin films, with the help of Red Short Pictures' Michael Felsher, beginning with a 28 minute interview with director Tom Savini who goes into how he was chosen to direct, his preparation for the film by creating over six-hundred storyboards, and his general unhappiness  during the making of the film, partly because he was going through a divorce at the time.He also discusses how Romero and producers keept him from executing some if his ideas due to tone and budget, and you can tell it really bothered him. He goes into some great detail about deleted and unfilmed scenes, some with accompanying storyboards. He also discusses the cast, and who auditioned for the role of Ben that didn't land the role, including Laurence Fishburn (The Matrix) and Eriq La Salle (TV's ER).

There's also an interview with special make-up effects supervisors John Vulich and Everett Burrell who touch on a few excised scenes and visiting a morgue in Pittsburgh   to do research on corpses, going into detail how they strived for authenticity in the undead, not just a coll artists rendering of the undead, notably the yellow fleshtones. They also go into the ideas like a cool sound bullet POV shot that was dreamed-up by Savini that he was not allowed to film.

Next up is star Patricia Tallman who recounts auditioning for the role, being a Romero fan from way back, being drawn-in by the characters shift from meek in the original to a total bad-ass woman and her experiences on-set with Savini, Tom Towles and the rest of the cast. 

The single-disc release comes housed in an over-sized Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, the a-side featuring the original movie poster illustration, the b-side a good-looking illustration from Umbrella's in house designer Simon Sherry. The disc itself featuring an excerpt of the a-side artwork. It's nice to finally have a NOTLD '90 release with some decent looking artwork, past releases have been not-so-great, including the TT release. 


Special Features:
- Audio commentary with Director Tom Savini
- The Dead Walk Featurette (25 min) 
- NEW! Tom Savini Interview (28 min) HD 
- NEW! Return to the Living Dead: Interview with Special Make-Up Effects Supervisors John Vulich and Everett Burrell (21 min) HD 
- NEW! Being Barbara: Interview with Lead Actress Patricia Tallman interview (17 min) HD 
- Behind the Scenes featurette (8 min) SD
- Trailer (1 min) HD 

Night of the Living Dead (1990) is a chilling and poignant take on George A. Romero's '68 original, with Romero himself penning the screenplay the film follows the sketch of the iconic black and white classic with precision with but a few nice surprises. I will offer up that when I take in Romero's trilogy of the Dead I actually throw this on instead of the '68 original oftentimes - which might be heresy - but I think it's that good. As remakes of classic horror films go this is right up there with The Blob (1988), The Thing(1982) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) in my opinion - definitely one of the better horror entries of the 90's. The Blu-ray from Umbrella looks and sounds great with the correct color grading and the extras are super-cool, highly recommended. 



Own Rampage (2018) on 4K UultraHD Combo Pack, 3D Blu-ray Combo Pack, Blu-ray and DVD on July 17th, or Own It Early on Digital HD on June 26th!

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JOIN IN ON AN EPIC RIDE AS SUPER CREATURES
TEAR ACROSS NORTH AMERICA WHEN

RAMPAGE (2018) 

ARRIVES ONTO 4K Ultra HD, BLU-RAY 3D COMBO PACK, BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK, DVD AND DIGITAL FROM WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Own it Early on Digital on June 26th

4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray debuts on July 17th


Burbank, CA, May 29 – Watch an unshakeable bond form between an extraordinarily intelligent gorilla and noteworthy primatologist when “Rampage” arrives on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and Digital.

Global icon Dwayne Johnson headlines the action adventure “Rampage,” directed by Brad Peyton.

“Rampage” also stars Oscar nominee Naomie Harris (“Moonlight”), Malin Akerman (TV’s “Billions”), Jake Lacy (TV’s “Girls”), Joe Manganiello (TV’s “True Blood”), and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (TV’s “The Walking Dead”), P.J. Byrne (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Marley Shelton (TV’s “Rise”), Breanne Hill (TV’s “Frontier”), Jack Quaid (“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”), Matt Gerald (TV’s “Daredevil”), Jason Liles (“Death Note”), Demetrius Grosse (TV’s “The Brave”) and Will Yun Lee (TV’s “Hawaii Five-O”).

Peyton directed from a screenplay by Ryan Engle, Carlton Cuse, Ryan J. Condal and Adam Sztykiel. The film’s story was written by Ryan Engle.

“Rampage” was produced by Beau Flynn, John Rickard, Brad Peyton and Hiram Garcia. It marks the third collaboration between Johnson, Peyton, Flynn and Garcia, following the international blockbuster hit “San Andreas,” Warner Bros.’ highest grossing film of 2015, as well as 2012’s global smash “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.” Executive producers were Marcus Viscidi, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Jeff Fierson, Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener and Michael Disco.

The creative team includes director of photography Jaron Presant, production designer Barry Chusid, editors Jim May and Bob Ducsay, and costume designer Melissa Bruning. The music is composed by Andrew Lockington, who created the scores for “San Andreas” and “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island.” Serving as co-producers were Wendy Jacobson, Josh Mack and Dana Robin.

The “Rampage” creatures were brought to life by acclaimed VFX supervisor Colin Strause, with five-time Academy Award-winning visual effects company Weta Digital.

“Rampage” will be available on 4K Ultra HD for $44.95, Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack for $44.95, Blu-ray Combo Pack for $35.99 and DVD for $28.98. The Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack features the theatrical version of the film in 3D high definition and high definition; the Blu-ray Combo Pack features a Blu-ray disc with the film in high definition, a Blu-ray disc with the special features in high definition, a DVD with the film in standard definition and a Digital version of the movie.

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc of “Rampage” will feature Dolby VisionTM HDR that dramatically expands the color palette and contrast range and uses dynamic metadata to automatically optimize the picture for every screen, frame by frame.


Also, the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D discs of “Rampage” will feature a Dolby Atmos® soundtrack remixed specifically for the home theater environment to place and move audio anywhere in the room, including overhead. To experience Dolby Atmos at home, a Dolby Atmos enabled AV receiver and additional speakers are required, or a Dolby Atmos enabled sound bar. Dolby Atmos soundtracks are also fully backward compatible with traditional audio configurations and legacy home entertainment equipment.

“Rampage” will also be available on Movies Anywhere. Using the free Movies Anywhere app and website, consumers can access all their eligible movies by connecting their Movies Anywhere account with their participating digital retailer accounts.

Fans can also own “Rampage” via purchase from digital retailers beginning June 26th.

SYNOPSIS
In 1993, a breakthrough new technology gave scientists a path to treat incurable diseases through genetic editing. In 2016, due to its potential for misuse, the U.S. Intelligence Community designated genetic editing a “Weapon of Mass Destruction and Proliferation.”

Johnson stars as primatologist Davis Okoye, a man who keeps people at a distance but shares an unshakable bond with George, the extraordinarily intelligent, incredibly rare albino silverback gorilla who has been in his care since he rescued the young orphan from poachers. But a rogue genetic experiment gone awry mutates this gentle ape into a raging creature of enormous size.

To make matters worse, it’s soon discovered there are other similarly altered animals. As these newly created super creatures tear across North America, destroying everything in their path, Okoye teams with discredited geneticist Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) to secure an antidote, fighting his way through an ever-changing battlefield, not only to halt a global catastrophe but to save the fearsome creature that was once his friend.

BLU-RAY AND DVD ELEMENTS
“Rampage” 4K Ultra HD, 3D Blu-Ray, Blu-ray Combo Pack contains the following special features:
- Not A Game Anymore - From arcade sensation to movie monster epic, we explore how the Midway video game inspired the filmmakers to create the ultimate disaster film.
- Gag Reel - Hilarious outtakes and mishaps captured during production.
- Deleted Scenes - Deleted scenes that barely missed the final theatrical cut.
- Rampage - Actors in Action: Strap in for a wild ride as Dwayne Johnson, Joe Manganiello and the cast prepare for the film’s demanding stunts and explosive set pieces.
- Trio of Destruction - Follow the innovative design team and the artists at Weta Digital as they bring to life the biggest and baddest monsters for the film’s climactic battle royal.
- Attack on Chicago - Director Brad Peyton reveals the challenges of filming on-location in Chicago and turning digital destruction into a cinematic reality.
- Bringing George to Life - Discover the wonder of what it’s like to be a gorilla, as movement coordinator Terry Notary teaches actor Jason Liles how to move, behave and become “George.”

“Rampage” DVD contains:
- Not A Game Anymore - From arcade sensation to movie monster epic, we explore how the Midway video game inspired the filmmakers to create the ultimate disaster film.

DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION ELEMENTS
On June 26, “Rampage” will be available to own in high definition and standard definition from select digital retailers including Amazon, FandangoNow, iTunes, PlayStation, Vudu, Xbox and others. On July 17, “Rampage” will be made available digitally on Video On Demand services from cable and satellite providers, and on select gaming consoles.

About Movies Anywhere
Movies Anywhere simplifies and enhances the digital movie collection and viewing experience by allowing consumers to access their favorite digital movies in one place when purchased or redeemed through participating digital retailers. Movies Anywhere brings together the movies from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film, The Walt Disney Studios (including Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm), Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Participating digital retailers at launch are Amazon Video, Google Play, iTunes and Vudu. Movies Anywhere offers a library of over 7,300 digital movies at launch, including new releases, and will continue to expand the consumer experience as more content providers, digital retailers and platforms are added. Using the free Movies Anywhere app and website, consumers can connect their Movies Anywhere account with participating digital retailers and enjoy their favorite digital movies from the comfort of their living room and across multiple devices and platforms, including Amazon Fire devices; Android devices and Android TV; Apple TV; Chromecast; iPhone, iPad and iPod touch; Roku® devices and popular browsers. Consumers can also redeem digital codes found in eligible Blu-ray and DVD disc packages from participating studios and enjoy them through Movies Anywhere. Movies Anywhere is available to residents of the United States, its territories, and certain associated states. For more information, visit www.moviesanywhere.com.

ABOUT DIGITAL
*Digital movies or TV episodes allow fans to watch a digital version of their movie or TV show anywhere, on their favorite devices. Digital movies or TV episodes are included with the purchase of specially marked Blu-ray discs. With digital, consumers are able to instantly stream and download movies and TV shows to TVs, computers, tablets and smartphones through retail services. For more information on compatible devices and services go to wb.com/digitalmoviefaq. Consult a digital retailer for details and requirements and for a list of digital-compatible devices.

BASICS
PRODUCT SRP
4K Ultra HD Combo Pack $44.95
Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack $44.95
Blu-ray Combo Pack $35.99
DVD Amaray (WS) $28.98

Standard Street Date: July 17
EST Street Date: June 26
DVD Languages: English, Canadian French
BD Languages: English, Canadian French, Brazilian Portuguese
DVD Subtitles: English SDH, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Canadian French
BD Subtitles: English, Latin Spanish, Parisian French, Canadian French
Running Time: 107 minutes
Rating: Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief language, and crude gestures.
DVD: DLBY/SURR DLBY/DGTL [CC]
Blu-ray: DTS HD-MA


DEVIL'S GATE (2017) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

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DEVIL'S GATE (2017)

Label: Scream Factory / IFC Midnight 

Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 94 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1) 
Director: Clay Staub
Cast: Amanda Schull, Milo Ventimiglia, Shawn Ashmore, Bridget Regan, Jonathan Frakes


In Devil's Gate (2018) FBI agent Daria Francis (Amanda Schull, TV's Pretty Little Liars) arrives in Devil's Gate, North Dakota to investigate the disappearance of the wife and son of local farmer Jackson Pritchard (Milo Ventimiglia, TV's Heroes), who she believes probably had something to do with his family's disappearance. She's accompanied by local deputy Colt Salter (Shawn Ashmore, X-Men)and the pair make their way to Pritchard's dilapidated farm house on the outskirts of town. Arriving they find the tense farmer none to helpful and surprisingly violent, they restrain him and search the home where the agent finds the whole property is elaborately booby-trapped, even stranger, he keeps an unidentified quivering mass of flesh locked away in a cage the basement. Then oddly powerful and localized lightning begins striking an area near the farmhouse, revealing a strange glyph covered stone under the ground, and it only gets stranger after that.  

This tense thriller offers a little bit for everyone, we get some Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired trappings (and traps), a bit of otherworldly supernatural and science fiction, it's a real genre-bender. Our three main characters not only fight each other but must team-up when thet find themselves under siege from... something, something diabolical that keeps evolving in away, is it something from Heaven, from Hell or something from off-planet, this one will keep you wondering just what the fudge is going on right up until the end, though it definitely goes in a direction, it just keeps a nice veil of mystery and ambiguity throughout. 


The film is well-shot and executed, visually impressive and a bit of a genre bender that kept me tuned-in from start to finish even if I wasn't really sure what was happening exactly, plus we get some cool creature special effects by way of actor Javier Botet (all the [REC] films) in a rubber-suit, a design that falls somewhere in between fluke-man from that episode of the X-Files and albino xenomorph. 

The cast is really good here, Milo Ventimiglia is chewing up a bit of scenery to a degree as the religious zealot farmer, I found my self hating and liking him in equal measure, and Shawn Ashmore is always a welcome, expecting him to be a clueless hick-cop, but he turns out to not be. I dug Amanda Schull's agent who is out to prove herself in the face of a past tragedy that is revealed but not dwelled on. Also be on the lookout for Jonathan Frakes of Star Trek: The Next Generation as the local sheriff who hates that the F.B.I. is in town investigating the disappearances.  


There's not a whole lot I didn't like about this one, I went along with it just fine, my ideas of about what the creature-menace was evolved throughout and I liked the direction it went, though there was scene wherein the FBI agent spots a small black and white photo hanging on the wall of the house and pops out a theory that seem a bit far-fetched, I mean she just sees this thing and goes off on a tear, spotting minute details she couldn't possibly have glanced at the distance she saw it from, but that's just a small niggle, otherwise this was a tense thriller with some fun sci-fi/supernatural phenomena, and I like that it kept a fun air of mystery about it, feeling a bit like a stand-alone episode of the X-files, in a good way. I didn't love it, but this was an entertaining watch. 

Full Moon's Classic Family Film Classic Comes to Blu-ray for the FIRST TIME!

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Legendary horror and dark fantasy film studio Full Moon - founded by producer/director Charles Band in 1989 - is world-renowned for wild films like PUPPET MASTER, CASTLE FREAK, SUBSPECIES, EVIL BONG and many, many more. But nestled among Full Moon's vast entertainment universe sits Moonbeam Entertainment, the beloved 1990s imprint that housed Band's series of imaginative (and successful) fantasy films.

PREHYSTERIA! 

Beginning in 1993 and continuing well into the late 1990s, Band's Moonbeam Entertainment released dozens of remarkable (and hugely popular) horror, sci-fi and fantasy movies made for children and families. Now, Full Moon is thrilled to be bringing back many of those marvelous pictures from the Moonbeam library, starting with the film that started it all: PREHYSTERIA!

Anticipating the success of JURASSIC PARK, this 1993 VHS-era favorite follows the misadventures of Jerry Taylor (Austin O'Brien, THE LAST ACTION HERO), a 12 year old Elvis-loving kid and his sister Monica (Samantha Mills), whose raisin farmer dad Frank (Brett Cullen, GHOST RIDER) accidentally brings home a bundle of rare eggs unearthed in the rainforest by Rico Sarno (Stephen Lee, DOLLS), an sinister museum curator. Suddenly, the eggs hatch, unleashing a pack of diminutive dinosaurs that the kids name after their favorite rock and pop music stars - Elvis, Jagger, Madonna, Paula and...Hammer (Hey, it WAS the '90s after all!). But when Sarno finds out about the dinos, he'll stop at nothing to get his hands on them and its up to Jerry and Monica to protect their new "family".

This wild and hilarious comedy/fantasy classic features top-notch stop-motion special effects by the great David Allen (PUPPET MASTER, LASERBLAST) and is ready to be embraced by a new generation of children and kids of all ages looking for charming, eccentric retro-genre entertainment. Full Moon is pleased to present PREHYSTERIA in a remastered, high-definition transfer taken from the original 35mm camera negative. Come and spend some time with the world's oldest party animals!


For more on the movie, check out the official Full Moon Newsflash and go to www.FullMoonDirect.com

Full Moon presents another Erwin C. Dietrich Eurotrash Exploitation Classic! Uncut and Remastered!

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THE WOMEN OF INFERNO ISLAND 

Out NOW on DVD and Streaming on Amazon, Full Moon Streaming and Exotic Movie House!

From Erwin C. Dietrich,  the man who made his name breaking sexy dames out of prison, comes THE WOMEN OF INFERNO ISLAND (aka CAGED WOMEN, WOMEN'S PENITENTIARY, ISLAND WOMEN and a half dozen other lurid titles), a delirious, erotic and action-packed exploitation romp designed to please chain-gang-bangin' chicks and chaps everywhere.

Set in scenic Ibiza, Spain, THE WOMEN OF INFERNO ISLAND sees smokin' hot Eurocult legend Brigitte Lahaie (SWEDISH GAS PUMP GIRLS, FASCINATION) as an unlucky prostitute who is kidnapped and taken to a remote hellhole prison lorded over by a stern, leather-clad, she-wolf warden (Karine Gambier from Jess Franco's VOODOO PASSION). There she and a pack of other abducted international hookers are stripped, tortured, assaulted and humiliated while also enjoying the odd after-hours tumble with one of the many manly guards. Eventually, the ladies wise up, pine for their previous pay-for-play lives and hatch a plan to make a break for it...

Less unsavory then many of its women-in-prison ilk, THE WOMEN OF INFERNO ISLAND benefits - like all Dietrich productions - from a respectable budget, gorgeous locations, lush music by Walter Baumgartner, a top-flight cast that also includes Eric Falk (THE MAD FOXES), France Lomay and Nadine Pascal (both from SWEDISH GAS PUMP GIRLS) and tons of exposed female (and male) flesh. 

Full Moon is stoked to present THE WOMEN OF INFERNO ISLAND in a totally uncut, digitally remastered transfer culled from Dietrich's own 35mm negative. Don't drop the soap!


Severin Films Presents THE CHANGELING – The 1980 horror classic in HD for the first time ever in America!

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One of the finest ghost-chillers of all-time finally getting a much deserved Blu-ray from Severin Films! 

THE CHANGELING (1980) 
LIMITED EDITION 

Only 5,000 units with a bonus Embossed Slip Cover and CD Soundtrack!

Label: Severin Films
Release Date: August 7th 2018 
Duration: 107 Minutes 
Region Code: Region-FREE
Video: 1080p HD  Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: Peter Medak
Cast: George C. Scott, Trish Van Devere, Melvyn Douglas, Barry Morse

It is perhaps the most chilling supernatural thriller of our time. It remains a career peak for star George C. Scott and director Peter Medak (THE RULING CLASS, THE KRAYS).  Now the film that Martin Scorsese calls “One of the scariest movies ever made,” finally comes to Blu-ray.  Academy Award® winner Scott delivers “One of his greatest performances ever,” (BloodyGoodHorror.com) as a Manhattan composer consumed by grief after his wife and daughter are killed in a shocking accident.  But when he moves to a secluded Victorian mansion, he will find himself haunted by a paranormal entity that may unleash an even more disturbing secret. 

Trish Van Devere (THE HEARSE), two-time Oscar® winner Melvyn Douglas (BEING THERE) and Jean Marsh (FRENZY) co-star in “One of the most unsettling ghost stories ever” (IFC.com).  Winner of 8 Genie Awards, including Best Foreign Actor, Best Foreign Actress, and Best Canadian Film, and based on actual events.

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director Peter Medak and Producer Joel B. Michaels, moderated by Severin Films' David Gregory.
- The House On Cheesman Park: The Haunting True Story of THE CHANGELING.
- The Music of THE CHANGELING: Interview with Music Arranger Kenneth Wannberg.
- Building The House Of Horror: Interview with Art Director Reuben Freed.
- The Psychotronic Tourist: THE CHANGELING.
- Master of Horror Mick Garris on THE CHANGELING.
- Poster & Still Gallery
- Trailer
- TV Spot




Video Preview
https://vimeo.com/273607296/207b022c71




NINJA III: THE DOMINATION (1984) (Scream Factory Collector's Edition Blu-ray review)

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NINJA III: THE DOMINATION (1984) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 92 Minutes
Video: 1080p Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Sam Firstenberg
Cast: Shô Kosugi, Lucinda Dickey, Jordan Bennett, David Chung, Dale Ishimoto, James Hong

Synopsis: Aerobic instructor Christie Ryder (Lucinda Dickey, Breakin’, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo) becomes possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja when she comes to his aid after he was shot down. Dominated by the killer’s vicious and relentless rage, she sets out to brutally attack his enemies. Her boyfriend, confused by Christie’s changing personality and afraid that he might be her next victim, enlists the help of Yamada (Shô Kosugi, Enter the Ninja, Revenge of the Ninja). In a life-threatening exorcism and ultimate fight to the death, Yamada proves that he is Christie’s only chance for survival.


Even by Canon standards Ninja III: The Dominion (1984) is a weird entry, the third film in Cannon's then ongoing Ninja series - though this is really a stand-alone film - mashes-up the martial arts action of a 80's ninja film with the supernatural strangeness of something like Poltergeist or The Exorcist with the neon-infused nuttiness of an 80's music video -  sounds awesome, right?


Set just down the road a bit from me in Phoenix, Arizona the film begins with a ninja emerging from a secret cave and then slicing and dicing a scientist and his personal security detail on a municipal golf course. These opening scenes are bursting at the seams with goofy 80's action like you just wouldn't believe, we get about every ninja trick in the book and a few new ones including the ninja car-surfing atop of police cruiser! The sly assassin is taking out motorcycle cops, police cruisers and even a helicopter with qa variety of rope tricks, throwing stars and sword play as the cops give chase through the golf course, it's such a weird setting but the film let's you know right from the start you're about to watch a weird one, sure 'nuff. The action comes fast and hard and is hilarious and awesome, the body count is ridiculously high and the preposterous ninja/possession shenanigans are a fun watch, just a few minutes into it and I was completely on board for Ninja III and whatever weirdness would follow, and trust me, this film is only just getting started-up.


Despite his masterful martial arts skills our evil ninja is mortally wounded, dying he stumbles across an 80's coiffed telephone repairman named Christie (Lucinda Dickey, Breakin') who also moonlights as an aerobics instructor, it's the 80's, so why not, right?  His dying act is to perform some kind of mind transference on the unsuspecting 80's hottie, possessing her with his evil ninja spirit. Now possessed Lucinda sets about killing the cops responsible for the ninja's death, shes gained all of the assassin's skills and his insatiable thirst for revenge. Christie throws a wrench into the works when she falls for one of the officers involved, the super-cheesy Officer Billy Secord (Jordan Bennett), as you can imagine it's hard to nurture a new love when the evil ninja inside of you wants him dead, it definitely presents it's share of problems.


There's some great possession scenes early on, by great I mean so weird, they arrive like an early 80's music video with neon-colored lighting effects, the wind and fog machines are in full force, plus we get an eerie glowing samurai sword and an 80's arcade game that delivers a laser-light show that would make Pink Floyd envious. It's hilarious when Christie attempts to thwart the possession by dancing it off, yeah, that'll work! Of course, any film with a possession scene must by cinematic law have an exorcism, and this one is a whopper, performed by none other than James Hong from Big Trouble in Little China!

Now having watched this aerobicized ninja ass-kicker twice before I was still not fully prepared for the infamous V8 seduction scene and it does not disappoint in anyway, it boggles the mind that this was not only considered during the making of the film bit that everyone went along with it, it's a serious WTF moment. In an attempt to seduce Billy, Christie pours a can of V8 down her neck and chest, slurp it up lover, slurp it up! Perhaps the weirdest product placement you've ever seen and definitely the act of a woman possessed by an evil Japanese Ninja, those Asians are a kinky bunch!


Ninja III offers up plenty of laughs and cheap 80's action from the Cannon Group, it's never less than entertaining and has always kept me coming back for more, a campy and cartoonish ninja film with the added bonus of spiritual possession, now that's hard not to love.  

Audio/Video: Ninja III: The Domination arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory for a second time, originally released back in 2013, they've spruced it up with a new 4K scan of original film elements and host of new extras, most of which were produced by Red Shirt Pictures. Presented in 1080p HD widescreen 1.85:1 the new 4K scan looks great, while I had no beef with the previous release, the new 4K scan is definitely an improvement, offering sharper detail in the close-ups, the colors are nicely saturated and black levels are deep and inky. The  English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, comparing it two the older Blu-ray I couldn't detect any discernible difference, which is just fine, because it clean and crisp, well-balanced and free of any noticeable distortions, optional English subtitles are provided. 

Scream Factory carry-over the audio commentary with director Sam Firstenberg and stunt coordinator Steve Lambert which is moderated by Rob Galluzo, formerly of FEARnet.com, now of Shock Waves podcast and a curator at Dread Central Presents. It's a great listen and the trio seem to love the film and recognize it's inherent oddness.


Onto the new stuff we get three new interviews produced by Red Shirt Pictures, an 18-minute interview with star Lucinda Dickey who speaks about how she went from dancing n Grease 2 to starring in this Cannon vehicle, what it was like working with Kosugi and Jordan Bennet, and she goes into that very strange V8 love-making scene of course. Up next is a 10-min interview with co-star Jordan Bennet who begins my talking about his early career as a comedian which ended after his act was cut short by comedy legend Milton Berle! He also peaks about the V8 scene, and how he and some of the actors would steal a utility truck used in the film at night to cruise around Phoenix, Arizona. The last of the new interviews is a 12-min interview with producer/stuntman Alan Amiel who speaks about his role in the film, how he started out and working under Chuck Norris among others.  There's also an audio interviews with Production Designer Elliot Ellentuck And Co-Composer Misha Segal Featuring Isolated Tracks From The Original Score, this is moderated by Michael Felsher of Red Shirt Pictures, it's a fun track, the interviews are alright but the good stuff is that cool cheesy 80's synth-score! 

The last of the extras are a trailer, pa Trailers from Hell commentary with screenwriter Josh Olsen, and two image galleries. The single-disc Blu-ray release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase with a 2-sided sleeve of artwork, the a-side featuring a new illustration from Scream regular contributing artists Joel Robinson, which is bright and 890's gaudy, they cram a lot of imagery from the film onto the artwork, the b-side features the same artwork as the 2013 release. This release also comes with a limited edition slipcover featuring the a-side artwork, as does the disc itself 

Special Features:
- NEW 4K Scan From The Original Film Elements
- NEW Dancing With The Dead: Interview With Actress Lucinda Dickey (18 min) HD
- NEW Secord’s Struggle: Interview With Actor Jordan Bennett (10 min) HD
- NEW Birth of the Ninja: Interview With Producer And Stuntman Alan Amiel (12 min) HD
- NEW Audio Interviews With Production Designer Elliot Ellentuck And Co-Composer Misha Segal Featuring Isolated Tracks From The Original Score
- Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD  

- Trailers From Hell Commentary With Screenwriter Josh Olson (2 min) HD
- Audio Commentary By Director Sam Firstenberg And Stunt Coordinator Steve Lambert

- Still Photo Gallery (3 min) 
- Behind-The-Scenes Gallery (3 min) 

When I first heard that Scream Factory were re-releasing Ninja II: The Domination (1984) I immediately though "cash-grab", but they did good with a new 4K scan and some fun extras that further fuel the love for this incredibly fun genre-blender of a movie, so call up a few friends, pop open a few brews (or a few cans of V8) and let the bizarre 80's awesomeness wash all over you, this is a strange one, highly recommended for lovers of 80's schlock and martial arts action weirdness. 

American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and Something Weird to release a new 4K transfer of GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS (1973) on Blu-ray July 10th

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The most berserk and deranged creature feature in history!



Alamo Drafthouse's American Genre Film Archive, the largest non-profit genre film archive in the world, and Something Weird are excited to announce an July 10th, 2018 release date for the GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS Blu-ray. After a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2015, AGFA purchased a 4K film scanner to create new digital transfers of titles from the Something Weird library. GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS is the fourth release of dozens in this partnership, following THE ZODIAC KILLER, BAT PUSSY, and Ed Wood's THE VIOLENT YEARS.


Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the petting zoo, you meet . . . GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS! Written and directed by infamous outsider artist Fredric C. Hobbs (ALABAMA'S GHOST), this is the story of an eight-foot-tall toxic sheep monster that blows up gas stations, smashes crooked politicians, and terrorizes stoners! From the surreal "wild west" locations to the outrageous monster effects, GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS is easily the most berserk, out-of-control, and inexplicably deranged creature feature in the history of forever. This includes the scene where the Godmonster crashes a children's picnic.

"Get the straight jackets ready," said AGFA advisory board member Frank Henenlotter. "GODMONSTER OF INDIAN FLATS is one of the weirdest, wackiest, oddballest monster movies ever made!"

Special features include:
- New 4K preservation from the only surviving 35mm theatrical print!
- Rampaging monster trailers from the AGFA vaults!
- Berserker shorts from the Something Weird vaults!
- Bonus movie: LEGEND OF BIGFOOT (1975), a new 2K preservation from an original 35mm theatrical print!
- Reversible cover art with illustration by Shana Cleveland!


HALLOWEEN (2018) Trailer and Poster

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HALLOWEEN (2018) 

Release: October 19th 2018 
Universal Pictures will release Trancas International Films, Blumhouse Productions and Miramax’s Halloween on Friday, October 19th, 2018.

Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago. 

Master of horror John Carpenter executive produces and serves as creative consultant on this film, joining forces with cinema’s current leading producer of horror, Jason Blum (Get Out, Split, The Purge, Paranormal Activity). Inspired by Carpenter’s classic, filmmakers David Gordon Green and Danny McBride crafted a story that carves a new path from the events in the landmark 1978 film, and Green also directs.


Halloween is also produced by Malek Akkad, whose Trancas International Films has produced the Halloween series since its inception, and Bill Block (Elysium, District 9). In addition to Carpenter and Curtis, Green and McBride will executive produce under their Rough House Pictures banner. Ryan Freimman also serves in that role.

 Halloween will be distributed worldwide by Universal Pictures.

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Judy Greer, Andi Matichak, Will Patton, Virginia Gardner, Nick Castle,
Directed By David Gordon Green
Produced By Malek Akkad, Jason Blum, Bill Block
Executive Produced By John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis, David Gordon Green, Danny McBride, Ryan Freimann

Horror Anthologies German Angst & A Taste of Phobia Coming to DVD/Blu-ray & VOD

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Artsploitation Films will release two eye-popping horror anthologies on June 26th. Fourteen different directors peer into the twisted and often self-violent world of phobias in A Taste of Phobia. Also, on that date will be a special-featured-packed Blu-ray release of German Angst. Love and sex has never been portrayed as so depraved and disturbing as seen by three controversial underground filmmakers, the legendary Jörg Buttgereit (Nekromantik(1987); Andreas Marschall (Tears of Kali (2004); and Michal Kosakowski (Zero Killed (2014). Note: German Angst is a Blu-ray re-issue, as the film has been out on Blu-ray previously. But the original release was a barebones Blu-ray-R while this Artsploitation Films release will be of the highest HD quality and will contain many bonus features.

A TASTE OF PHOBIA (2017)
Genre: Horror
Year: 2017
Running Time: 90’
Language: English
Audio format: 2.0 stereo
Subtitles: Optional Spanish subtitles
Format: DVD

GERMAN ANGST (2015) 

Genre: Horror
Year: 2015
Running time: 112’
Language: English
Audio format: Dolby 5.1
Subtitles: English
Format: Blu-ray


ROAD GAMES (1981) (Umbrella Blu-ray Review)

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ROAD GAMES (1981) 

Label: Umbrella Entertainment

Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: M
Duration: 101 Minutes 
Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono 1.0, Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1) 
Director: Richard Franklin
Cast: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Grant Page

Directed by Richard Franklin (Psycho II) the Hitchocock-ian road thriller Road Games (1981) stars Stacy Keach (The Ninth Configuration) as American truck driver Pat Quid working in Australia, we catch up to the quirky driver as he's hauling slabs of meat across the Australian outback, playing what he calls "road games" to keep himself occupied on the long stretches, these games includes him peering into the vehicles of passerbys and making-up stories and dialogue about the occupants to pass the time, Dubbing the other drivers with names like Captain Careful and the Sneezy Motorcyclist, all the while carrying on a one-sided conversation with his trusty sidekick, a loyal dingo-dog. Quid picks up a feisty older woman whose husband seemingly abandoned her on the side of the road after an argument, she gets the trucker to stop for her by creating a barrier of what looks to be pink toilet paper across the roadway, but he seems happy to have the company and the pair play road games, during which she tells him off a string of rape/murders being committed by a serial killer on the loose in the area. The macabre story captures his attention and makes him think of a peculiar thing he saw at a roadside motel earlier in the film, with a suspicious man carefully eyeing the garbage truck as it picks up trash. With the murderer on his mind the conversation goes a bit darker, slightly upsetting the old woman who begins to suspect that Quid could very well be the killer in question, causing her to panic and flee the truck when he pulls over. This is when Quid spots a green minivan driven by the suspicious man he saw back at the motel, the driver looks to be burying a large black back in the middle of the outback, very odd indeed. 


Now increasingly obsessed with the driver in the green minivan Quid picks up a new hitchhiker, a charming young woman (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween) whom he dubs "Hitch", short for hitchhiker, and the two share conversation and further theorize about the motivations of the sadistic killer. They catch up to the minivan at a roadside garage/gas station, while Quid believes the killer is in the restroom, so he goes in looking to confront the culprit, meanwhile Hitch moves in to check out the could-be killer's vehicle and ends up in peril with Quid giving chase, hoping to save his new found friend from the killer before it's too late.


The film is an offbeat road movie with the affable but slightly loony Quid being a very likable character, it's a thriller set on the open road with director Franklin and the screenwriter making no bones about this being a straight riff on Hitchcock's Rear Window set in the cab of a semi-rig, and I liked it quite a bit, it's a good premise. Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis are likable characters, they work great against each other, though Curtis's character is a bit downplayed, but she does good work here opposite Keach who really makes the film all on his own with his brand of humor and charm, assisted by the very capable and technically well-executed direction and cinematography behind the camera. 


Road Games is a suspense film that I think gets short shrift because it's been lumped in with early 80's Jamie Lee Curtis slashers, but it's not that, the gore is nearly non-existent, but there's a nice guitar-string strangling at the top of the film in a seedy hotel room that has a giallo-tinge to it, but the movie lives and breathes on a clever script and good suspense. The film culminates with Quid pursuing the killer through narrow streets and into an alleyway, finally picking up some steam, delivering some car-crunching action there at the end, but while the film has had a boil going it never really boils-over properly at the end, though there is a fun scene earlier with the Quid's semi plowing through a wooden boat on the roadway, offering some Mad Mad style thrills.    


The cat and mouse suspense and the Keach performance kept me rapt throughout, the writing and visuals are clever and well-executed, the joy of this one is in the execution and build-up, keeping a steady boil going for the most part, but if you're coming into this one expecting an early 80's slasher starring Jamie Lee Curtis you're gonna be seriously letdown. However, if you're down for a road movie with oodles of suspense and some fine cinematic craftsmanship this one delivers the goods. I really enjoyed the darkly perverse nature of it, it's not graphic but the discussion of the killer's psycho-sexual motivations and the idea that there might be (and what happened to?) the slaughtered corpse of a woman hanging in the semi's refrigerated trailer is particularly twisted.


Audio/Video: Road Games (1981) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Aussie label Umbrella Entertainment as part of their Ozploitation Classics line-up, presented in 1080p HD framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. This is a 4K scan of a release print, for reasons unknown to me it seems the original elements are not available, but it's easily better than the old long out-of-print Anchor Bay DVD release but does have some issues that I would associate with it being from a release print, such as some occasional wonky contrast and lack of crisp details, this is something we saw from Scream Factory's Blu-ray of Hell Night, which was also sourced from 4K scan of print and not the original elements. That said, the source appears to be in good shape, there;s been some restoration to remove nicks and scratches and the results are goof without appearing overly  digitally manipulated, grain has been left intact and the colors look superior to the previous incarnations I've seen on home video, so I am pleased with what we have here even if the source is not optimal. 


Looking at the audio we get two options, both are lossy, Dolby Digital mono 1.0 and surround 5.1, though I preferred the more natural sounding mono track, optional English subtitles are provided. Despite the lossy audio it sounds good, the suspenseful score from Brian May sounds nice and full, the film is mostly dialogue driven without a lot of bombastic scenes, but when called upon the audio has some decent depth to it. 


Umbrella give this one a healthy dose of extras, porting over the great audio commentary with Richard Franklin and the 21-minute Kangaroo Hitchcock featurette from the long out-of-print Anchor Bay DVD and adding quite a few new ones on top of that. The new stuff begins with over an hour of uncut 'Not Quite Hollywood' interviews with Jamie-Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, Grant Page, Richard Franklin, Everett De Roche,Vincent Monton and Tom Burstall, the Curtis interview is particularly fun and well humored, I like that she has such a matter-of-fact and unvarnished view of her career leading up to this movie, detailing what it was like on set and how she was received as an American actor an an Australian shoot.   


We also get a featurette about the 4k telecine transfer with an interview from the movie's DOP Vincent Monton, I love these extras that go into restorations with the before and after comparisons. DP Monton is on hand but sadly mostly speaks about the benefits of digital cinematography versus film.


There's an archival 1981 interview with the director, a 2001 audio interview with him, plus a 1981 lecture with the Franklin, composer Brian May and co-producer Barbi Taylor, the quality of this on is straight from VHS. Also produced for this release are two 2016 audio interviews with Stacy Keach and actor/stuntman Grant Page, the Keach interview regurgitates a lot of what he said on the vintage making of doc. 


The single-disc release comes housed in an oversized Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, the a-side and b-side being the same familiar gloved hands strangling a woman with a guitar string, the b-side is minus the unsightly ratings box on the cover, the disc also features the same key art. 


Special Features: 

- Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Richard Franklin
- Kangaroo Hitchcock: The Making of "Road Games" - Featurette with Producer/Director Richard Franklin and Actor Stacy Keach (21 min) 
- Uncut 'Not Quite Hollywood' Interviews with Jamie-Lee Curtis, Stacy Keach, Grant Page, Richard Franklin, Everett De Roche,Vincent Monton and Tom Burstall (64 min) 
- Newly-Discovered Two Hour lecture on the Making of Road Games from Richard Franklin, Barbi Taylor and Brian May - November 20th 1980 (131 min) 
- New Extensive Gallery accompanied by Essay written by Fangoria writer Lee Gambin: Gallery of stills, Production Shots, Storyboards, Newspaper Reviews, Promotional and Artwork Materials (33 min) 
- Featurette on 4k Telecine Transfer by Roar Digital featuring SD-to-HD Comparisons, Quality Approval and Interview with DoP Vincent Monton (11 min) 
- 1981 Interview with Richard Franklin (25 min) 
- 2001 Audio Interview with Richard Franklin (24 min) 
- New Audio Interview with Road Games Lead Actor Stacy Keach (10 min) 
- New Audio Interview with Road Games Stunt Co-ordinator and Actor Grant Page (33 min) 
- HD Theatrical Trailer (3 min) 

Richard Franklin was an unsung master of suspense in my opinion and he made some great slow-burn classics that are worth re-discovering, it's great to see this one get the deluxe treatment with loads of extras from Umbrella. Fans of road pictures and clever thrillers should really dig into this one, it's a rewarding watch if you go in with tempered expectations, just don't watch it expecting a slasher, it's not that exactly, but it's plenty entertaining and a good slice of suspense cinema set on the open road.


BODY MELT (1993) (Umbrella Blu-ray Review)

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BODY MELT (1993) 

Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: MA 15+
Duration: 80 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.77:1) 
Director: Philip Brophy
Cast: Ian Smith, Regina Gaigalas, Vince Gil, Andrew Daddo, Neil Foley, Anthea DavisMatthew Newton, Adrian Wright

Four happy homes...One hell of a drug...One thousand ways to MELT!

A peaceful morning in suburban Pebbles Court is interrupted by a deafening car crash. What the residents fail to notice are the strange tentacles that erupt from the dead driver's neck and force their way down his throat.

Body Melt (1992) is an low-budget Australian splatter film that began life as four shorts meant for an anthology film, when that didn't pan out the film was pieced together with a thru-line and the result was this gore-y and messy (in more ways than one) slice of early 90's ozploitation. Set in the Melbourne suburb of Homesville we find ourselves drawn to the Pebbles Court cul de sac of where the resident of the street are unwitting test subjects by an evil corporation who manufacture a line of new-age vitamin supplements, they're latest miracle drug is called Vimuville, and they're sending it straight to the residents via the mailbox as free samples, and they're only to happy to blindly swallow whatever pill manages to find it's way into their mailboxes. Of course this stuff ain't good for you, it's not exactly delivering the "new you" as advertised.

The pill is the brainchild of evil Dr. Carrera (Ian Smith) and his even-more evil-minded assistant, Shaan (Regina Gaigalas), the latter of whom at the open of the film is banging one of the lab guys, but apparently he's grown a conscious about the unethical experiments happening in Pebbles Court and plans to blows the whistle on the whole operation, so Shaan injects him with what she believes to be a lethal dose of some sort of Re-Animator re-agent looking stuff. As soon as he's out of her sight he hops in his car and makes a bee-line for Pebbles Court, but stops off at a convenience store when he begins falling ill, and for some inexplicable reason grabs a bottle of Palmolive dish soap and starts chugging it! He runs out of the place seemingly going through some sort of body mutation brought on by the massive dose of whatever-that-stuff-was, as he enters Pebbles Court at a very high rate of speed he crashes into a parked vehicle flying through the windshield while yellow tentacles emerge from wounds on his neck before withdrawing back into his body. 

Two local cops show up at the scene to investigate the crash/death, we have Sam Philips (Gerard Kennedy, Wolf Creek 2) and his younger partner Johnno (Andrew Daddo), the cops interview the neighbors but don't find out much, but they do find victim's tape recorder, mumbling something about the first step is hallucination, the second step is glandular, which sets them on a path to the evil corporate entity, all the while having to sift through the ongoing body-horror casualties in pebbles Court.

From there the cops begin their investigation and we follow them, and the residents of the cul de sac while they each experience their own Vimuville side effects, all of which are downright disgusting! There's a man who begins to have hallucinations of a strange looking woman whom he sees at the airport while on an errand, she shows up at her house and seduces him, during the act she massages one of his ribs right out of his body, and it's saying something that's this id the least bizarre part of the whole film. 

Then we have the health conscious Dr. Noble (Adrian Wright) who lives in the neighborhood whom takes his family to the Vimuville Health and leisure spa, each befalling a gooey or tongue-swelling-ly awful end, the doc begins flinging copious amounts of phlegm, the mom chokes on her over-sized mutated tongue and their bratty son has a face-crushing rollerblading accident. A pair of horny brother's in the neighborhood don't actually meet their end because of ingesting the supplements but the corporation is still the reason behind their demise, they're on a lust-fueled road trip but end up in the village of Nowhere, a strange hole in the wall town populated by a boil-faced father (Vincent Gil, Nighrider from Mad Max!), and his three hideous children, all of whom are apparently past victims of Vimuville's unethical experiments, one of his teen kids is "girl", a strange creature who for reasons unfathomable to me one of the teen boys decides to shack-up with, he regretted that decision for sure! 

The last of the test subjects is a pregnant couple, the woman has been taking Vimuville supplements as directed by her doctor, who's working for the evil corporation, but fears something is wrong with her unborn child, and boy was she right! Her husband catches her about to cut herself open to rip out the unborn mutant freak when suddenly a face-hugging placenta latches onto his face, the end result is an eye-bulging, mouth-shredding mess. 

The film has a rough phlegm-y connective tissue based around the resident of the doomed cul de sac but the story doesn't hold together all that well, and feels like what it is, four shorts thrown together with some uninspired acting and loads of spew and gore, and to that end it's a fun watch, but I think you have to be a particular frame of mind to enjoy. There's some serious shortcomings to overcome, like what the fuck happened to the teens windshield, one moment they're driving down the road and it's there and in the very next scene it's covered in plastic, and there's something missing, because that fact that something has happened to it is a plot point of that particular story! 

The bloody and low-budget special effects are the true selling point here, they're creative and fun, there's loads of spew dripping everywhere, and if you're fan of old school splatter there's gonna be something here you love. Not all of it is great though, the placental face-hugger is good, but the pregger belly exploding open in a torrent of steam not so much. There's a lot of body parts exploding here, this includes faces, stomachs and even a cock, someone evene manages to choke on their own mutated tongue, someone's face erupts like a snot-volcano,  like I said, there's some great creativity on display here, it's just not all executed to perfection, but I still had a blast with it. 
   
Audio/Video: Body Melt (1993) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment as part of their Ozploitation Classics line-up. Restored in 4K from the interpositive, it looks pretty good, considerably better than my previous Vanguard DVD to be sure. The source offers very few blemishes, the colors are fairly strong and the black levels are decent, but the film does have a slightly soft appearance about it. The grain structure looks nicely managed, while there's some DNR applied it's not over-aggressive.

Audio on the disc comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1 track that's strong and clean, it's mostly front channel-centric but does offer some use of the surrounds, optional English subtitles are provided. I didn't notice any hiss or distortion but did pick-up what sounds like source limitations, a slight echoey clipping during a few scenes, most notable when the teens are first pulling in Nowhere. As I recall that was also evident on by old DVD version, but I no longer have it to compare this to.

Umbrella give this ozploitation splatter-fest a healthy dose of extras, beginning with two audio commentaries, the first with Director Philip Brophy, Producers Daniel Scharf and Rod Bishop who go into the origins and financing of the film, the locations used in the film and the influences, there's a second commentary with Brophy who goes into great detail about the sound design and score he composed for the film, if which I must say annoyed me quite a bit, early '90s electronic music is not my bag, but it suits the film just fine.  

The single-disc release comes housed in an over sized Blu-ray keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, the a-side features a Vimuville branding design, the b-side featuring a nicely grotesque illustration by Umbrella staff designer Simon Sherry, the disc itself features an except of the Vimuville branding design.  

Special Features: 
- Behind-the-scenes featurette with cast and crew (17 min) 
- Making Bodies Melt - The Making Of Body Melt (1992)(34 min) 
- Audio commentary with Director Philip Brophy, Producers Daniel Scharf and Rod Bishop (Production)
- Audio commentary with Director/Composer Philip Brophy (Sound Design and Score)
- Stills Gallery (98 images) 
- Body Melt - The Full Storyboard (98 images) 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (2 min) 

Body Melt (1993) is low-budget, fun and chock full o' gore with melting bodies and mutated strangeness to spare, it's not a great film, but I still give this a hearty recommend to fans of Street Trash, Society, The Melting Man and Brain Dead, if you're a fan of those this is right up your gore-strewn alley. Umbrella Entertainment have been doing some great work, they've put together a fine Blu-ray of Body Melt, it's the best I've seen it look and the extras are damn decent.

More screenshots sourced from the 
Umbrella Entertainment Blu-ray 

 

THE MIDNIGHT MAN (2016) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

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THE MIDNIGHT MAN (2016)

Label: Scream Factory / IFC Midnight
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 93 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0, Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: Travis Z
Cast: Lin Shaye, Gabrielle Haugh, Grayson Gabriel, Emily Haine, Louise Linton, Michael Sirow, Robert Englund

From director Travis Z (the Cabin Fever remake) comes yet another remake - this time it's a remake of an Irish supernatural chiller, the film opens in 1953 where we find three young children playing a strange board game in a mansion, an occult game with a very specific set of rules which when executed properly summons a demonic urban legend named The Midnight Man, who stalks you around the house until a certain time, preying in your deepest fears. Game night ends with two of the children dead, one is gruesomely decapitated while the other pops like a blood-filled zit outside the home, spraying blood over the snow-covered lawn. It's honestly a pretty fantastic little opening with some surprising gore. From here we go modern day, we have teenager Alex (Gabrielle Haugh) caring for her senile granny Anna (Lin Shaye, Insidious) at the very same mansion from the open of the film, in fact in turns out that granny is the lone survivor of that gruesome night.

While rummaging through the attic of the home Alex and her friend Miles (Grayson Gabriel) stumble across a strange box hidden away inside a trunk, inside it they find the Midnight Game game complete with written instructions, and decide have a go at it, even after granny catches them in the act and nearly strokes out at the sight of the game, you think that would warn them off of it, but nope, they go forward, even after having to call a doctor to check in on granny,  by the way the doc is played by horror legend Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), not that it matters. Despite being incredibly complicated with it's myriad of rules involving protective circles of salt, knocking on doors and keeping candles lit, they start the game, and also invite their friend Kelly (Emily Haine) over to play, and she's totally into it, she immediately drops some creepy[pasta knowledge on them, already aware of the game, but as expected she's just more meat for the demonic-game grinder. 

The movie is well-made and attractively shot,  but the story is too been-there-and-done-that, and don't even get me started on character motivations, I don't know what any of these people were even thinking, the game is so hard to get going I never would have gotten it started, let alone having to worry about the elderly relative you're supposed to be taking care of! I do have a soft spot for urban legends and folkloric horror though, so I did enjoy the premise to a degree and I like the look of the cloaked reptilian Midnight Man, but the rules as complicated as they were didn't seem to matter all that much when it's revealed that the demon regularly cheats anyway! 

This is not a horrible movie, but it's perhaps something worse than horrible, it's largely forgettable, pissing away the considerable talents of Lin Shaye and Robert Englund with poorly written characters. I could see this getting some play on Netflix on a night when nothing else presents itself as viable entertainment, but it's not a movie you're gonna be sitting around turning your friends onto at some later date, you're gonna forget about it an hour later, and someday think to yourself, "what was that one lackluster movie with Lin Shaye and Robert Englund?", and you definitely won't remember the name, because there are at least four other movies with the same generic name, and there will probably be four more by the time you think about this movie again.  

This is another one of the IFC Midnight/Scream Factory titles, they're very hit and miss for me so far, for every The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) there's four of these. The single-disc Blu-ray includes a trailer for the film and the original Irish film from 2013 which I think is cool that they included, but given that I didn't enjoy the remake all that much I don't know when or if I would ever make the time to watch the original. This release also includes a sleeve of reversible artwork and a slipcover, I'm curious to know how it is decided over at Scream Factory which releases are deserving of a reversible wrap and a slipcover, 

Like the Cabin Fever remake, also directed by Traviz Z, this one is not awful but it's not anything you're gonna be thinking about afterward. I give it that it's a well-made film, the visuals look good, but there no substance, there's nothing original about it, which make The Midnight Man a proverbial one and done for me. 






 
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