New This Week 1.28.14

Wow, tons of new stuff out there today:

Scream Factory's latest double feature is this pair of of fun prehistoric creature featuress:

The Beast Of Hollow Mountain
Based on an idea by the legendary special effects wizard Willis O’Brien (King Kong, Son Of Kong, The Lost World), The Beast Of Hollow Mountain is a classic creature feature. An American rancher living in Mexico is staying near Hollow Mountain, an impenetrable swamp where, stories have it, dwells a living prehistoric Tyrannosaurus Rex!

The Neanderthal Man
A mad scientist uses his new serum on his housekeeper, turning her into an ape-woman. Like most crazed scientists, he then tries the serum on himself, creating…The Neanderthal Man! Robert Shayne (How To Make A Monster) and Beverly Garland (It Conquered The World, The Alligator People) star in this harrowing creature feature.

Pick it up from Shout!

Finally, at long last the legendary Argento's Dracula makes its US Blu-ray & DVD debut!

Horror maestro Dario Argento (Suspiria) puts his unique stylistic spin on the classic supernatural tale with DRACULA, a visually sumptuous retelling of the legendary myth. It s been 400 years since Count Dracula s (Thomas Kretschmann, Wanted) beloved Dolingen De Gratz passed away, leaving the immortal bloodsucker forever abandoned. But when he discovers that local newlywed Mina Harker (Marta Gastini, The Rite) bears a striking resemblance to Dolingen, his furious yearning is reawakened as he believes Mina to be a reincarnation of his beloved. Luring her husband Jonathan away to his castle with the help of his minion (and Mina s best friend) Lucy (Asia Argento, xXx), Dracula embarks on a bloody quest to reunite with his long lost love and live forever with her in hellish immortality. Only the arrival of vampire expert Abraham Van Helsing (Rutger Hauer, Blade Runner) can put an end to the fiend s unholy plan. Luridly violent and brimming with passionate eroticism, Dario Argento s DRACULA is an all-out assault on the senses from one of horror cinema s most celebrated auteurs.

Read my take here, if that doesn't scare you off, own it here.

Considered by many to be the first great American horror film, John S. Robertson's DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE allowed stage legend John Barrymore to deliver his first virtuoso performance on film. Blending historic charm with grim naturalism, this version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE is one of the more faithful of the many screen adaptations of Stevenson's story (though greatly influenced by T.R. Sullivan's popular stage treatment), recounting a visionary scientist's ill-fated attempts to unleash the human mysteries that dwell beneath the shell of the civilized self.

Mastered in HD from a 35mm negative, with a wealth of bonus material, this Kino Classics edition beautifully showcases the dramatic brilliance and gruesome thrills of this influential silent classic.

• Mastered in HD from acrhival 35mm elements
• Musical score compiled by Rodney Sauer, performed by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde the 1912 Thanhouser version, starring James Cruze (12 min., Courtesy of Film Preservation Associates)
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a 15-minute cut of the rival 1920 version, starring Sheldon Lewis, produced by Louis B. Mayer
• "Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pride," a 1925 slapstick parody starring Stan Laurel
• "The Transformation Scene," a rare 1909 audio recording 

Amazon, or from Kino

Also out today on Blu-ray is the latest Hammer release from Millennium, Frankenstein Created Woman:

A tormented girl (Susan Denberg) drowns herself after her lover is framed for her father s murder and guillotined. Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), experimenting with the transfer of souls, places her lover s soul into her body, bringing Christina back to life. With no memories of her past life, she becomes driven by a ghostly revenge and carries out a violent retribution on those responsible for both deaths.

Extra features: Commentary Featuring Derek Fowlds, Robert Morris, Jonathan Rigby; Frankenstein Created Woman Trailer; World of Hammer Episode ‘The Curse of Frankenstein’; World of Hammer Episode ‘Hammer Stars: Peter Cushing’; Brand New Documentary: Hammer Glamour; Animated Stills Gallery; Includes Exclusive Collectable Cards!

Amazon

Five university friends gather at a house party to ring in the New Year. Unbeknownst to them, an epidemic has erupted outside, causing outbreaks around the world. With nowhere else to turn, they barricade themselves indoors with only their phones, laptops, and other tech devices. They use their devices to research the possible cause of this outbreak. Information and video footage over flow their computers as they descend further into the cause and the ensuing chaos. As the virus spreads, the mood in the house changes from fear to paranoia. Who is safe? Who can they trust? Reality becomes blurred as they slowly discover the source of the virus causing the sickness...and there is no going back. 

The DVD includes a behind the scenes featurette and a commentary from the director - check it out at Amazon.

Scorpion's new Dangerous Beauties line debuts today with this double feature:

First up, MALIBU HIGH! Every teacher wanted to flunk her... but no one dared! As Kim enters her final year at Malibu High School, she has a few problems. Her grades are poor, her boyfriend has dumped her for a snobby rich girl and her financial situation is disastrous. She makes an after hours meeting with a teacher to improve her grade point average and soon, she is working her way through the entire faculty room! But when that isn't enough, Kim turns to murder as danger heats up!. Now see the cuolt classicfrom a brand new 16x9 master in HD from the original camera negatives first time anywhere!

Next up, HUSTLER SQUAD! You pay for the pleasure... the killing is free! An unlikely group of freedom fighters - professional prostitutes - are recruited by the U.S. Army to perform a dangerous, quite unorthodox military mission.! Watch this film in widescreen on DVD, from a brand new master from the vault elements, first time anywhere! 

Whoever did this write-up really likes exclamation points! Buy your copy today at Amazon!

And another Dangerous Beauties release with a write up as enthusiastic as the last:

First up, RUNNING HOT! Acclaimed actor Eric Stoltz (Mask, Pulp Fiction) stars in this volatile tale of star-crossed lovers in a last ditch escape from the law. A stripper (Monica Carrico) watches the trial of a younger man (Stoltz) accused of murdering his father. As she falls in love with his tragic image, she writes love letters to him in prison. When the object of her obsession shows up at her doorstep, having made a bloody escape, she joins him in a perilous, passionate run for their lives from a sadistic cop (Stuart Margolin, TV's Rockford Files). In the tradition of Badlands and True Romance this thrilling 1984 film is a rare gem directed by award winning director Mark Griffiths, and from the producer of the popular TV show The O.C... Now see the cult classic from a brand new 16x9 master in HD from the original camera negatives first time anywhere!

Next up, HOT TARGET! At first glance, Christine Webber (Simone Griffeth, Death Race 2000) would seem to be a woman who has everything. A wife of a successful NZ businessman, she is beautiful, sophisticated, stylish - the perfect wife and mother. But scratch the surface and see that Christine is also a Woman trapped by the very "perfection" of her life.Watch this film in wqidescreen on DVD, from a brand new master from the original IP, first time anywhere!

Get it at Amazon

After a mysterious and bloody massacre in their isolated country house leaves her parents and younger brother dead, 11-year-old Neve is taken by police to friends of the family to be looked after. When Neve tries to explain that an evil force within the house caused her family s deaths, she s met with disbelief from both the authorities and her new family. As the police try to find the crime s real perpetrators, Neve is given a social worker to try to ease her trauma. But before long it becomes apparent that whatever killed her family has followed Neve to her new home, and soon she and all those around her are in mortal danger of the malevolent power that seems to be tied to the innocent girl. A pulse-pounding supernatural thriller, DARK TOUCH weaves the tension of a horror film with the plight of a newly orphaned girl to create a unique examination of the paranormal. Buy the DVD or Digital Download from Amazon.

 
And finally, the Rifftrax release of Umberto Lenzi's 1988 film Ghosthouse (La casa 3) is out from Legend Films. Funnily enough, this movie never received an actual US DVD release, but here it is with Mike and the former bots Rifftraxing it up. According to the cover it has both the Rifftrax and the original audio which is great for Lenzi fans who don't care for Rifftrax. And even greater for people like myself who are fans of both Lenzi and Rifftrax. Get it here.

Argento's Dracula 3-D Own It January 28th...If You Dare

The best Dracula film ever made by Dario Argento, Dracula 3-D is being unleashed on an unsuspecting viewing public by IFC & MPI January 28th. The Blu-ray will contain the film in both 3D and, uh, regular D along with a behind the scenes featurette and a pair of trailers.

I've seen and reviewed this one before, so I know it's not a movie I want to purchase, but, like the theatrical poster they released a few months back this new cover art is tricking me into thinking this movie is awesome. I might end up owning it, but certainly not until it hits somewhere in the $5 range. If you haven't seen it yet, if there were ever a perfect "rent before you buy" movie, this is it. Rent it first.

From Blu-ray.com:

IFC Films and MPI Home Video have officially announced that they will release on Blu-ray Italian director Dario Argento's Dracula 3D (2012), starring Thomas Kretschmann, Marta Gastini, Asia Argento, Rutger Hauer, Miriam Giovanelli, and Unax Ugalde. The release will be available for purchase on January 28th.

Horror maestro Dario Argento (Suspiria) puts his unique stylistic spin on the classic supernatural tale with Dracula, a visually sumptuous retelling of the legendary myth. It's been 400 years since Count Dracula's (Kretschmann, Wanted) beloved Dolingen De Gratz passed away, leaving the immortal bloodsucker forever abandoned. But when he discovers that local newlywed Mina Harker (Gastini, The Rite) bears a striking resemblance to Dolingen, his furious yearning is reawakened as he believes Mina to be a reincarnation of his beloved. Luring her husband Jonathan away to his castle with the help of his minion (and Mina's best friend) Lucy (Argento, xXx), Dracula embarks on a bloody quest to reunite with his long lost love and live forever with her in hellish immortality. Only the arrival of vampire expert Abraham Van Helsing (Hauer, Blade Runner) can put an end to the fiend's unholy plan. Luridly violent and brimming with passionate eroticism, Dario Argento's Dracula is an all-out assault on the senses from one of horror cinema's most celebrated auteurs. 

Synapse Licenses Suspiria For 2014-15 Blu-Ray Release

"SYNAPSE FILMS, INC. LICENSES “SUSPIRIA”, ONE OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME, FOR DVD, BLU-RAY AND FUTURE OPTICAL MEDIA.

ROMULUS, MI – Synapse Films, Inc. has acquired the North American home-video rights to the 1977 classic horror film SUSPIRIA, directed by Italian horror master Dario Argento. Described as “one of the scariest films of all time” by Entertainment Weekly, SUSPIRIA stars the beautiful Jessica Harper as a young girl caught up in a coven of witches controlling a German dance academy.

“I’ve been involved in the restoration and release of many films in my career, but SUSPIRIA has always eluded me, until now,” says Donald May, Jr., President of Synapse Films. “It’s one of my favorite horror films and I’m ecstatic that my business partner, Jerry Chandler, was able to negotiate with the rights holders to release this film. This is going to be an amazing project for us.”

Synapse Films, Inc. will work closely with Technicolor Rome and Technicolor Los Angeles to create an all-new high-definition 2K scan from the original negative for a possible 2014-15 video release. “It’s important to spend as much time as possible to create the definitive high-definition home video version for the fans,” May explains. “We’re going to take our time with this one.”

Synapse Films, Inc. is currently planning the extensive work on SUSPIRIA in conjunction with Technicolor, utilizing both their Rome and Hollywood facilities. The film scanning will be coordinated and supervised by Technicolor Hollywood’s Director of Restoration Services, Tom Burton, whose film restoration credits include Ridley Scott’s BLADE RUNNER, Georges Méliès’ A TRIP TO THE MOON and BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S.

Final specifications, retail pricing, and extras for the Synapse Films release of SUSPIRIA will be announced closer to the as yet to be determined release date."

Fantastic news of course, but fingers crossed they don't pull a Demons on us and only put out a $45 steelbook version. I know Suspiria is a much bigger film, and a limited edition is highly unlikely, I'm just still a little bitter about the non-poor people friendly release of Demons (which was possibly my most anticipated release of the year until I found out it was nearly $50).

Arrow's December

Arrow Video has some fantastic releases lined up for December. A couple of my favorites actually, Tenebre (or Tenebrae, if you prefer) is my favorite Argento film, and Big Trouble in Little China is my favorite Carpenter film that isn't called The Thing. You can find the list with extra features below, and if you're wondering, yes they've done a new transfer for Tenebrae for this release.

A notorious horror classic returns in all its depraved glory. This infamous video nasty updated the classic Giallo blueprint for the gorified 80s, courting controversy and drenching the viewer in crimson arterial spray.

A razor-wielding psycho is stalking the horror writer Peter Neal, in Rome to promote his latest work, Tenebre. But the author isn't the obsessive killer's only target, the beautiful women who surround him are doomed as one by one, they fall victim to the murderer's slashing blade…

Will fiction and reality blur as fear and madness take hold? Watch in terror as by turns the cast fall victim to the sadistic imagination of Dario Argento, Italy's master of horror.

Special Features:

• Limited Edition SteelBook packaging featuring original artwork
• Newly remastered High Definition digital transfer of the film
• Presented in High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD
• Optional original English & Italian Mono Audio tracks (uncompressed PCM Mono 2.0 Audio on the Blu-ray)
• Optional English subtitles for Italian audio and English SDH subtitles for English audio for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio Commentary with authors and critics Kim Newman and Alan Jones
• Audio Commentary with Argento expert Thomas Rostock
• Introduction by star Daria Nicolodi
• The Unsane World of Tenebrae: An interview with director Dario Argento
• Screaming Queen! Daria Nicolodi remembers Tenebrae
• A Composition for Carnage: Composer Claudio Simonetti on Tenebrae
• Goblin: 'Tenebrae' and 'Phenomena' Live from the Glasgow Arches
• Original Trailer
• Exclusive collector's booklet featuring brand new writing by Alan Jones, author of Profondo Argento
• More to be announced!
• Street Date: December 16th

Following Escape from New York and The Thing, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell re-unite for this mystical, action, adventure, comedy, kung-fu, monster, ghost story!

Russell plays Jack Burton, a reasonable guy who is about to experience some unreasonable things in San Francisco's Chinatown. As his friend's fiancée is kidnapped Jack becomes embroiled in a centuries-old battle between good and evil. At the root of it all is Lo Pan, a 2000-year-old magician who rules an empire of evil spirits. Jack goes to the rescue dodging demons, goblins and the unstoppable Three Storms as he battles through Lo Pan's dark domain.

One of Carpenters most enjoyable and best loved films, Big Trouble in Little China brilliantly juggles delirious set-pieces, comedy and kung-fu action with a razor sharp script of corking one-liners, as Jack would say "It's all in the reflexes".

Special Features:

• Limited Edition SteelBook packaging
• High Definition presentation of the film from a digital transfer prepared by Twentieth Century Fox
• Optional 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and uncompressed Stereo 2.0 Audio
• Isolated 5.1 DTS-HD Isolated Score Soundtrack
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio Commentary with director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell
• Return to Little China – A brand new interview with John Carpenter
• Being Jack Burton – A brand new interview with Kurt Russell
• Carpenter and I – A brand new interview with cinematographer Dean Cundey
• A new interview with producer Larry Franco
• Interview with visual effects producer Richard Edlund
• Vintage Making-of featurette featuring cast and crew
• Extended Ending
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Video
• Gallery of behind-the-scenes images
• 3 original trailers
• TV Spots
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by John Kenneth Muir, author of The Films of John Carpenter, a re-print of an article on the effects of the film from American Cinematographer, illustrated with archive stills and posters
• Street Date: December 2

When private eye Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) is visited by an old friend, this sets in train a series of events in which he's hired to search for a missing novelist (Sterling Hayden) and finds himself on the wrong side of vicious gangsters.

So far so faithful to Raymond Chandler, but Robert Altman's inspired adaptation of the writer's most personal novel takes his legendary detective and relocates him to the selfish, hedonistic culture of 1970s Hollywood, where he finds that his old-fashioned notions of honour and loyalty carry little weight, and even his smoking (universal in film noir) is now frowned upon.

Widely misunderstood at the time, The Long Goodbye is now regarded as one of Altman's best films and one of the outstanding American films of its era, with Gould's shambling, cat-obsessed Marlowe ranking alongside more outwardly faithful interpretations by Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum.

Special Features:

• High Definition presentation of the film from a digital transfer by MGM Studios
• Original uncompressed mono 2.0 PCM audio
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
• Rip Van Marlowe – An interview with director Robert Altman and star Elliott Gould
• Vilmos Zsigmond Flashes The Long Goodbye – An interview with the legendary cinematographer
• Giggle and Give In – Paul Joyce's acclaimed documentary profile of Robert Altman, with contributions from Altman, Elliott Gould, Shelley Duvall, assistant director Alan Rudolph and screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury
• David Thompson on Robert Altman - David Thompson, editor of 'Altman on Altman' and producer of the BBC's 'Robert Altman in England', talks about The Long Goodbye 's place in Altman's filmography
• On Raymond Chandler - Raymond Chandler's biographer, Tom Williams, outlines the author's life and work and discusses Altman's adaptation of The Long Goodbye
• On Hard Boiled Fiction - Crime writer and critic Maxim Jakubowski discusses the emergence of hard boiled detective characters from the pages of the pulp magazines from the 1920s through to the 1950s.
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Radio Spots
• Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Brad Stevens, a new interview with assistant director Alan Rudolph and an extract from American Cinematographer discussing Zsigmond's unique treatment of the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters
• Street Date: December 2

Argento's Dracula Gets Misleadingly Awesome Poster

Pretty much everyone who has seen Dario Argento's 3-D Dracula knows that it's anything but awesome. Dreadful, ridiculous and hilarious, sure. Awesome? Nope. For the US theatrical release (why?) IFC has decided to try and dupe everyone into thinking otherwise by commissioning this incredible piece of art for the theatrical poster.

I say avoid this one. As do these people. But for those of you who aren't swayed by those negative reviews and are still interested in seeing one of the worst Dracula movies you'll ever see, you will be able to do so starting October 4th.

Dario Argento's Dracula 3D - Review

Director: Dario Argento 

Writers: Dario Argento (screenplay), Enrique Cerezo (screenplay)

Stars: Asia Argento, Rutger Hauer, Thomas Kretschmann

The story: Jonathan Harker travels to...you know what, I don't think this part is necessary, it's fucking Dracula. See Tod Browning's Dracula, John Badham's Dracula, Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, etc. We've seen this dozens of times now, it's the same basic story with the same basic characters. Only much, much worse this time.

Aside from Sleepless I haven't really enjoyed an Argento film in some time. Not since Opera way back in  1987? Granted I haven't seen all of his recent stuff like Giallo or The Card Player, so maybe those are decent, but ever since Phantom of the Opera I've been really reluctant to give a lot of his current films a chance. I think I first saw the trailer for this about a year ago. Once I saw the huge CGI praying mantis in the trailer I knew two things; 1) this was going to suck and 2) I was going to have to check it out the second I had a chance.

Dario Argento's attempt at a 3D Dracula film is kind of a mess. It features awkward acting, stilted dialog, cheap production design and truly awful CGI. There's really just an overall air of stupidity about the whole production. That said this is not quite as awful as I'd heard. Don't get me wrong, it blows, just not as hard as I thought it would after seeing the trailer and reading some early reviews.  

Claudio Simonetti - Opera

Here is the soundtrack to the Dario Argento film Opera, or Terror at the Opera as it was known on the US VHS release. One of my favorite Argento films, and also features one of my favorite death scenes, as morbid as that sounds to say. If you've seen the film you know which scene I'm talking about, it involves a peephole and a phone, and it is awesome. I ripped this myself from the CD that was included with the Limited Edition DVD put out by Anchor Bay Entertainment. I hope you enjoy my emo-tastic font I added to the image above. It's cool because you can't really read it. That's how the kids like their fonts these days.

Claudio Simonetti was responsible for the music in the film, but the soundtrack does feature two bad Grim Reaper-like metal songs by Steel Grave, one called Steel Grave, and the other called Knights of the Night. Knights of the Night, which apart from having the dumbest title I've ever heard, also features a blatant ripoff of the main riff of Iron Maiden's 2 Minutes To Midnight. I guess Steel Grave was an usigned Italian band who was around at the time the movie was being made because I can't find any information at all on them.

1. Opera (02:23)
Claudio Simonetti
2. Crows (02:44)
Claudio Simonetti
3. Impending Danger (01:47)
Claudio Simonetti
4. Confusion (03:28)
Claudio Simonetti
5. Steel Grave (03:13)
Steel Grave
6. Cosmo (03:48)
Claudio Simonetti
7. Knights of the Night (02:50)
Steel Grave
8. Crows (03:11)
Claudio Simonetti
9. Days of Confusion (03:53)
Claudio Simonetti
10. Impending Danger (01:48)
Claudio Simonetti
11. Opera (04:35)
Daemonia
12. Albinoni in Rock (04:43)
Claudio Simonetti
13. I'll Take the Night (05:12)
Claudio Simonetti
14. To Frederica (03:10)
Claudio Simonetti

obsession. murder. madness.