Toothless Werewolf Holding Human Head - More Absurd Movie Posters From Ghana

How about some more Ghanarian (that can't be right) style horror movie posters? If there's one thing to be said about Ghanaian movie poster artists, they are masterful when it comes to proportion.

Hitting Shelves 7.16

Not a ton of stuff out this week, but here are the highlights.

Black Sabbath

My personal favorite from Bava is making it's US Blu-ray debut from Kino.

One of the great horror anthology films, and Bava's personal favorite of his works, BLACK SABBATH solidified the director's reputation as Europe's maestro of the macabre.

In "The Telephone," a woman is haunted by menacing phone calls from a former lover. "The Wurdulak" stars Boris Karloff as a vampire hunter whose family is stalked by the wandering spirit of an undead ghoul. "A Drop of Water" involves a nurse who steals a ring from a corpse-not realizing the curse that is carried with it.

This Kino Classics edition showcases Bava's original European cut of the film (I tre volti della paura, or Three Faces of Fear), before it was re-edited and re-scored for American release.

A heads up about this release, it's pretty much barebones, only featuring a few trailers. The Arrow Blu-ray/DVD release is pretty packed, and is actually on sale for £8.99 for the rest of the month on Arrow's site, which makes it about the same price as the Kino. The only downside to the Arrow is that it's Region B.

Kidnapped

Another Bava from Kino:

A brutal tale of abduction and psychological torment, KIDNAPPED involves a gang of criminals who, when their robbery goes wrong, take a woman, man, and sick child hostage and embark on a tesnion-fueled getaway. In a departure from his more audacious visual style, Bava keeps the action claustrophobic and the tension wound tight, building to an unexpected (and unforgettable) finale.

Shot in the mid 1970s, KIDNAPPED was, for decades, a lost film, having been shut down near the end of production after the death of its principal investor. Years later, producer Alfredo Leone and Mario's son, filmmaker Lamberto Bava, obtained the footage and brought the long-abandoned project to fruition.

Evil Dead

The Evil Dead remake seems to have the internet divided, a lot of people loved it, a lot of people really, really hated it. Like aggressively, angrily hated it, like the movie stole their car and raped their dog or something. Hate a movie all you want, but relax, it's a movie. 

Me, I thought it was pretty great. It's easily the most relentlessly gruesome film I've ever seen in a theater, how this thing passed with an R is beyond me. Sure, they had to cut it down prior to the theatrical release, and I'm sure a lot of fans will be upset we aren't getting that Unrated cut here, but realistically Evil Dead was so gory that it's actually a bit ridiculous as it is, I'm fine with the R rated cut I saw in the theater, which, again, was very gruesome.

There are a few options with this one, you can get the regular ass Blu-ray (or DVD) from Amazon, or most other retailers. If you're into bonus bonus content, Best Buy is offering up a 25-minute bonus disc featuring an interview with Bruce Campbell and an effects featurette. Here's a picture of the cover that I swiped from the Blu-ray.com forum.

Or, if you're like me and value fancy packaging that will spruce up your collection forever over a bonus disc you'll watch once (sorry Bruce), Target has an exclusive Steelbook case (which is also available at Future Shop). If you're interested in the Steelbook, act fast, these things are apparently low in quantity but high in demand. Which of course means eBay people are probably already hitting every Target near them to scoop up the remaining copies to sell for $50 once the supply completely dries up. Luckily I grabbed mine 2 minutes after Target opened, while they were still having that creepy morning meeting they have out on the sales floor. Anyone encounter this thing before? 30 people in a giant circle just inside the entrance, clapping every time a manager finishes a sentence. It's weird and it freaks me out. I don't need an audience while I'm holding five copies of a steelbook in my hands trying to find the one copy with the least amount of defects.

The Car - Arrow UK Region B Release

Not a July 16th title actually, but another release well worth picking up that came out yesterday is Arrow Video's worldwide Blu-ray debut of Elliot Silverstein's The Car, the action packed film about a vehement vehicle from Hell that terrorizes a small town while commiting various automotive atrocities. Arrow's put together a very nice little package for the film, here's a look at the bonus features:

-High Definition presentation (1080p), on Blu-ray for the first time in the world!
-Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
-Audio commentary with director Elliot Silverstein moderated by Calum Waddell
-Making a Mechanical Monster: Special Effects Artist William Alridge Remembers The Car
-Hitchhike the Hell: Actor John Rubinstein recalls becoming a victim of The Car
-Original Trailer
-Easter Egg
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Joe Wilson
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Cullen Gallagher as well as a brand new interview with co-writer Michael Butler conducted by Calum Waddell, illustrated with original archive stills and artwork

I actually have a copy of this already, so look for a review soon. Fans of the film can pick it up now directly from Arrow.

Just Announced - Target Exclusive Evil Dead Steelbook

Looks like Target just became the store I'll be buying Evil Dead from. I'm not too big on Steelbooks normally - I like them, but I don't go apeshit for them like a lot of collectors, but this is really pretty beautiful in my opinion. I work directly next to a Target, so I'll be sneaking next door right at 8am on July 16th.

For more info check out Target.com.

Also, for those of you in Canada, this will also be available at Futureshop.

Own Evil Dead July 16th

 The Evil Dead remake really has horror fans divided. I had fun with the film and it's stunning display of extreme violence, but a lot of people out there really despised it. Of course these days it's hard to even take anyone's opinions on movies seriously anymore because the internet is just filled with people who go to extremes in their opinions. It seems that people feel that movies are either "fucking awesome" or "the worst, most steaming pile of shit ever excreted". If someone dislikes a movie today they HATE it, then they get online and insult the intelligence of anyone who did like it. I've seen hundreds of vicious fights on the internet over differing movie opinions, I always find that really weird to see.

In my experience I've found that the vast majority of movies are never as awesome or as terrible as people like to exclaim. I think we all need to lighten up a bit, no matter how passionate we are about movies at the end of the day they are in fact just movies. It's amazing to me how much rage and anger movies can inspire in people. I'm a big movie fan, I've seen thousands of these things - some of them real pieces of crap, but if I watch a movie that sucks I move on and watch something else. I try not to hold a grudge or get pissed off about a movie. To me that seems like a pretty stupid thing to actually be angry over.

 

Okay, sorry for the mini rant there, those of you who remain undecided on Evil Dead because you missed it in theaters will get a chance to check it out July 16th:

“In the much anticipated remake of the 1981 cult-hit horror film, five twenty-something friends who become holed up in a remote cabin where they discover a Book Of The Dead. An archaeologist’s tape recording reveals that the ancient text was discovered among the Khandarian ruins of a Sumerian civilization. Playing the taped incantations, the youths unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.”

Special Features
- Commentary featuring stars Jane Levy, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Director Fede Alvarez and writer Rodo Sayagues (Blu-ray exclusive)
- “Making Life Difficult” – The Intense and Physically Exhausting Creation of the Film
- “Being Mia” – The Physical and Psychological Transformation into “Evil Mia”
- “Directing The Dead” – Director Fede Alvarez re-imagines a cult horror classic
- “Unleashing The Evil Force” – Exploring the origins and design of the new Book of the Dead (Blu-ray exclusive)
- “Evil Dead the Reboot” – Cast Rehearsals, Bruce Campbell, Deadites and more! (Blu-ray exclusive)

Evil Dead: The Musical

Do you like The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and select lines of dialog from Army of Darkness? Do you like low-budget gore-comedy musicals? If you answered yes to both of those questions, you just might enjoy Evil Dead: The Musical. This is a recording of the show from way back in 2003. I downloaded this about a year ago and forgot I had it. I was reminded of it yesterday, finally gave it a watch, enjoyed the hell out of it and thought a few of you out there might like to check this out.

From what I understand this is a VHS rip of a performance of the show, and it is certainly not high on audio or video quality. However, I sat down to do a quick quality test of the file on a 42" TV and ended up planted there for the entire duration of the show, so if I could tolerate it at that size, for that long, I'd say it's watchable quality.

There is a lot of funny in the 90 minute runtime, and plenty of blood and entrails as well. If you watch one gory slapstick musical featuring a headless candarian demon attacking a man with a chainsaw, make sure it's this one.

The show is still running today, so be sure to check out a live show if they visit your town. Looks like Council Bluffs, Iowa is the next stop. So any Iowians (Iowans? Iowanese? Whatever you guys want to be called...) reading this make sure to get out there and check it out.

WARNING: This production contains fountains of spraying blood! Front row "SPLATTER ZONE" seats are First-Come-First-Serve. Ponchos will be available for purchase at the box office for anyone wanting to protect their fabulous clothing!

Split over 5 parts, you'll need all 5 to extract the file:

What the fuck was that?!

Macabre Movie Poster Madness - American Horror: Japanese Style

I think my favorite country for movie posters just might be Japan. I like posters that are a bit out of the ordinary and Japan can tend to get really out there with their designs. I especially like what they were doing with American horror films in the 70s and 80s. A lot of the time the posters are like very chaotic collages - movie stills, art from other posters for the film, and Japanese characters splattered seemingly randomly around. It's fascinating really, I could look at them for hours.

The Evil Dead. This poster damn near out-kitsches Army of Darkness' Japanese poster. Not nearly as cool as the one for AOD (and really, what could be?), but this thing is still absolutely bananas.

Now a hysterical poster from John Carpenter's Halloween. At first glance, this poster is fairly kick ass. It's simplistic, but very moody and sinister at the same time. But wait! Take a look a Mikey's face. Whoops! I like to imagine this guy was just really blitzed while he was painting this at the last minute, desperate to make a deadline and he just accidentally went a little too "bulgey-eyed puppet man" with his depiction of Michael Myers.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The collage-like design really works quite well here. Like a page from some demented scrapbook that might've been kept on the premises of the Sawyer compound. What all the Japanese stuff would be doing on there, I do not know, but you see what I'm saying.

Re-Animator - A masterful classic, brimming with severed head eroticism. Gotta love the blood splatter to hide Barbara's business. I don't know if that's supposed to be funny, but....

Carrie - I've got no comment on this one, but I figured the post would look odd without something other than the title here.

Army of Darkness - Ashes 2 Ashes

Okay, here's the Ashes 2 Ashes series. Sorry about switching up the order there.

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On an absolutely completely unrelated note, while looking through some older files on my computer I found the Savage Streets CD cover I had made after I posted the soundtrack. So here's a look at that, if anyone needs it for whatever reason.

Army of Darkness - Shop Till You Drop Dead

Here are all 4 issues from Dynamite Comics' Army of Darkness - Shop Till You Drop Dead mini-series. Personally I think Shop Till You Drop....Dead would've been funnier. Dots equal funny.

Anyway, this series is actually a follow-up to another 4-issues series called Ashes 2 Ashes. I'll be posting that one later on today, I haven't read either yet and didn't realize the order they were supposed to go in. Ashes takes place immediately after the events of the film Army of Darkness, Drop Dead takes place immediately after Ashes. So just be sure to check out that one before you check out this one or you might be a little lost.

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Captain Supermarket!

This is one of my all-time favorite posters, the Japanese poster for Army of Darkness, or Captain Supermarket as it's known in Japan. I love the little Bruce Campbell soup cans and the completely random dolphins (?) in the background. I also love how they put both Ash's chainsaw and boomstick in the same bag as the other groceries. How strong is this bag? Sadly I don't think there is a full size version of this poster, I've only seen 7"x10" chirashi posters which are like $20. That seems a bit steep for a sheet of paper, has anyone seen this poster in a normal 27"x41"-ish size?