March 12th New Releases

Just a heads up on a few cool things releasing today.


EXPECTATIONS (1977)

Two women, one a wealthy socialite and the other a swinger, decide to swap lives. However as the novelty wears off, they become slaves to each other’s misery.
Director: Anthony Spinelli
70 minutes / Color / AR: 1.85:1
CONFESSIONS (1977)
A bored, upscale housewife decides to dabble in the world of anonymous sex and prostitution but quickly learns the unfortunately reality of such a lifestyle.
Director: Anthony Spinelli
68 minutes / Color / AR: 1.85:1
Features Include:
+ Dual Layer DVD-9 | Region Free | 16:9 Anamorphic | 1.85:1 AR | MONO
+ 2k scan from 35mm theatrical prints

This is the second release from newcomers Vinegar Syndrome. I'm working on a review of this one, though I am struggling a bit with it, only because I don't really watch erotic stuff very often. I'm a bit out of my element with this one. It's a solid presentation of two lost Anthony Spinelli films from 1977, so fans of 70's porn will definitely want to add it to their collection. Order from Vinegar Syndrome. Or Barnes & Noble Amazon Diabolik TLA DVD Empire.

The Savage Water/Death By Invitation DVD that I reviewed here was also supposed to come out today, but the source from which they licensed SAVAGE WATER did not have proper rights to it so that release has been canceled. They've been in contact with director Paul Kener, so they are working on getting a director apporved version prepared for future release. Death By Invitation is now coming in May and will be paired up with Dungeon of Harrow which looks pretty rad, so I'm looking forward to checking that out in a couple months.  

Female Teacher: In Front of the Students

Price: $19.95
Buy Now

Synopsis

The lovely Reiko has taken a new teaching job at a creepy old high school.  She is an extremely attractive woman and the young students in her class have fallen for her.  One night, after tennis practice, she is brutally assaulted in the locker room shower by a man with a stocking over his face.  Left on the floor naked and in shock, she discovers a single puzzle piece left behind by the crazed man.  A few days later, a pair of students enact a perverted sexual revenge on Reiko for kicking someone off the tennis team.  Could one of these students be the man who brutalized her in the locker room?  Who owns the strange puzzle piece?  As the mystery unfolds, Reiko must come to terms with her own sexual urges and fate.
With shocking scenes of torture and violence, including a shower assault that clocks in at almost four minutes, FEMALE TEACHER: IN FRONT OF THE STUDENTS is one of the more unforgiving and jaw-dropping films in Impulse Pictures’ “Nikkatsu Erotic Films Collection.”
 
Features

• Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1) Transfer
• Newly Translated Removable English Subtitles
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Liner Notes from Japanese Film Scholar Jasper Sharp

Blu-ray

The Taint

Morgue favorite The Taint arrives in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack from Troma. Lots of features, Director's Commentary, Cast Commentary, Behind The Scenes Slideshow, Deleted Scenes, plus the usual annoying Troma stuff like the Introduction By Lloyd Kaufman and other Tromatic Extra. Own it.

Fairy in a Cage

Price: $19.95Buy Now

During World War II, the tyrannical Judge Murayama uses his military power to imprison and torture innocent people.  Suspected of helping an anti-government movement, the lovely Namiji Kikushima (Naomi Tani) is captured, along with a local kabuki actor.  Helpless and unable to escape, the two are subjected to a grueling series of tortures including rope bondage and physical assault.  As the Judge and his evil assistant Kayo revel in their perverse fetishes, a new military recruit they’ve hired named Taoka may be the key to prisoners’ freedom.  He loves Namiji and will do what he can to help her, even if it means betrayal to organize an escape!
Impulse Pictures is proud to present FAIRY IN A CAGE, one of the most controversial films of 1970’s Japanese cinema, in a brand-new high-definition transfer taken from the original 35mm camera negative.

Features

• New High-Definition Transfer from the Original 35mm Camera Negative
• Newly Translated Removable English Subtitles
• Liner Notes from Japanese Film Scholar Jasper Sharp

Manos - The Soundtrack of Fate

I'm sure some of you are aware of the project to get Manos: The Hands of Fate restored in high definition for an eventual Blu-ray release. It looks to be coming along nicely judging by the screenshots on the site. Looks quite a bit like a real movie when it's all cleaned up.

I'm a big Mystery Science Theater fan, but the fan favorite episode featuring Manos is an episode I personally can't really get into because I actually find the movie physically painful to watch. Plus a good 15% of the riffing is just the guys being so dumbfounded by the movie that they just end up saying "Manos...the hands of fate."

That said I'm glad this restoration is happening, I think every movie, no matter how utterly, mind-numbingly awful it might be deserves to be preserved.

The reason I'm talking about this now and not a year ago when this restoration thing began? While checking out the site just now I noticed that back in January they put the entire soundtrack up for free, ready to download at the click of a couple of buttons. It's on Bandcamp, but it is free, you can enter $0.00 as an amount and still download it.

Shane Carruth - Upstream Color Soundtrack Streaming

Shane Carruth finally has a new film coming after Primer hit (and confused the absolute shit out of me) about a decade ago. And the entire soundtrack is available to stream on Soundcloud. If you enjoy the soundtrack you can obtain a vinyl copy here.

Zombie Holocaust - Review

Zombie Holocaust 

He's a depraved, homicidal killer...and he makes house calls!

Director: Marino Girolami
Writer: Fabrizio De Angelis (story), Romano Scandariato (screenplay)
Starring: Alessandra Delli Colli, Ian McCulloch, Sherry Buchanan
Year: 1980
Runtime: 84 Minutes

Alessandra Delli Colli plays sexy doctor and sometimes vegetarian Lori Ridgeway, who works at a New York hospital teaching anatomy classes. During a class some orderlies roll in a body and upon unsheeting the body Lori gasps as she realizes that someone has stolen the left hand of the cadaver. We find out that this isn't the first time part of one of the corpses has turned up missing, this is just the latest in a rash of body part theft.

Return to Nuke 'Em High Teaser Trailer

Warning: Contains Ron Jeremy Bong Hits, President Lemmy,  and a tiny wiener smacking a man repeatedly in the face.

Looks like one of the chicken zombies escaped from Poultrygeist. I'm not a huge Troma guy, but I do like Nuke 'Em High a bit, I think I'm kinda excited about this. I didn't see a release date anywhere, but I think it should be out somewhere in the next couple of months.

The Burning - Extras Announced for 5/21 Release

Extras have been announced for Scream Factory's upcoming Blu-ray release of The Burning:

• Audio Commentary with Director Tony Maylam and International Film Journalist Alan Jones
• Audio Commentary with stars Shelley Bruce and Bonnie Deroski
• Blood ‘n’ Fire Memories - A detailed look at the creation of the film’s make-up effects with Special Effects Artist Tom Savini
• Slash & Cut - An interview with editor Jack Sholder
• Cropsy Speaks – An interview with actor Lou David
• Summer Camp Nightmare – An interview with actress Leah Ayres
• Behind-the-Scenes Footage
• Theatrical Trailer
• Make-Up Effects Still Gallery
• Poster & Still Gallery

Available 5/21, preorder from Amazon, or order directly from Shout and receive a free poster featuring the newly commissioned cover art.

Turkish Horror El Cin (The Jinn) Gets Terrifying Trailer

Jesus, this is one of the most frightening trailers I've ever seen. The sound in this thing - the music and especially the sound effects, is truly unsettling. It has kind of a cheap look to it, but that just adds to the terror for me. Yikes, I have to see this at once.

Elfie Hopkins: Cannibal Hunter - On DVD Now

I just stumbled upon this, Elfie Hopkins, Cannibal Hunter. A film starring Ray Winstone and his daughter Jaime (who is unfortunate enough to have gotten her father's looks). I'd  never heard of this one until I saw it on ShockTillYouDrop today, apparently it was completed last year, but it just came out on DVD this past Tuesday.

Stupid fact: Jaime, who plays Elfie, is engaged to a man named Alfie.

The Most Terrifying Website You Will Ever Experience

New Evil Dead website up for those of you interested. Initially I wasn't too excited for this one, but I saw the trailer during Texas Chainsaw and it kinda sold me. It looks gnarly and gruesome, and having heard Raimi and Campbell's praise for it certainly doesn't hurt. I'll be checking this one out for sure. I am however avoiding this site myself as I don't want to spoil the movie. I've seen enough to get me interested, I don't like to see too much of a movie until I'm in the theater ready to see it all.

I also have to say, I really like the new logo. I might need a shirt with that on it. If the movie ends up sucking I can just say it's a shirt for the thrash band.

Coming Soon from Vinegar Syndrome...

Code Red's Vampire's Night Orgy/Dr. Jekyll vs. The Werewolf Out Now

Not sure how this one slipped by me for nearly two weeks. If anyone missed it so far Code Red's latest release, a pair of Spanish classics The Vampire's Night Orgy and Dr. Jekyll vs. The Werewolf is up for sale on their site. It should be noted that these are not the "clothed" versions, these have all the nudity intact.

THE VAMPIRE'S NIGHT ORGY

A group of people are traveling by bus to the town of Bojoni, when the driver has a heart attack and dies. The group of passengers decides to drive to the near village of Tolnio instead to spend the night, and follow to Bojoni on the next morning. They find nobody in the apparently abandoned ghost city, but the next morning, they meet the hospitable dwellers. Unfortunately, their bus has a problem with the engine, and they have to stay in Tolnio a while longer. To their shock and horror, they soon find out that they are trapped in a vampire village, and their fight for survival begins! Directed by Spanish great Leon Klimovsky. Starring Jack Taylor, Helga Line, Dyanik Zurakowska, and José Guardiola. Rated R 2.35:1 (16x9)

DR. JEKYLL VS. THE WEREWOLF

Spanish horror great Paul Naschy returns as El Hombre Lobo for the sixth time as he searches for a cure to his full moon madness by visiting the grandson of the infamous Dr. Jekyll. What ensues next is a lover's triangle, as a savage sadistic Mr. Hyde roams modern London and transforms into a werewolf on the disco floor! One of Naschy’s best! Directed by Leon Klimovsky. Co-starring Jack Taylor and Shirley Corrigan (THE GODFATHER SQUAD) Rated R. 1.66:1 (16x9

Maniac Remake hits VOD June 21st

 IFC Midnight has set a June 21st VOD release date for the Alexander Aja produced, Franck Khalfoun directed remake of Maniac starring Elijah Wood. There will also be a limited theatrical run starting the same day.

This has been getting fantastic reviews from places like Bloody Disgusting and Dread Central so this is a remake I'm actually really looking forward to. I'll be checking this out as soon as I get a chance.

Full Moon Presents Ooga Booga

 

World Wide Premiere of OOGA BOOGA is March 12th! Only at GrindhouseFlix.com

Spread the word! Invite your friends to the Ooga Booga Facebook event. The latest Ooga Booga news will be posted HERE 

You'll be able to stream it instantly for only $1.99  or Buy a digital copy for $7.99

OR SUBSCRIBE to GrindhouseFlix and watch as many films as you want, whenever you want, for only $4.99/month.

This is the latest from Charles "DUUUDDDEEESSS!" Band and Full Moon Pictures. First of all, Trilogy of Terror called, they want their Zuni hunting fetish doll and Karen Black back. Second, isn't this racist? I mean, I don't find it all that offensive, but I'm sure that's going to piss someone off. I'm not too big on Full Moon but I might check this out eventually for the hell of it, but only if I can see it for free.

Hilarious Faces of Death

One of my favorite features over at Final Girl was called Ridiculous Faces of Death. I think she only did about 8 or 9 of them and I really think that's a shame because shitty movies are loaded with bad actors trying to pretend they've just been killed but instead end up looking like mental patients having some kind of fit. So, I'm going to try and continue with this idea (or steal it, if you prefer) because I watch so many cheap movies I usually encounter 3 or 4 ridiculously stupid death faces a day and it's a crime not to share them with somebody.

First up, the 1993 film Undefeatable. This is a film directed by Godfrey Ho about Cynthia Rothrock tracking down a "martial arts" rapist who killed her sister. It's a fairly serious premise with some decent martial arts work from white people Cynthia Rothrock and John Miller. Fortunately for bad movie fans, the movie is made hilarious by one man, Don Niam, who plays Stingray the martial arts rapist who spends the entire movie mistaking redheaded women for his girlfriend, calling them mommy, then killing them with a sword, all while looking like this:

                                                        If he blinks in the movie, I missed it.

Seriously, try not to laugh at that face. It's impossible. And he makes this face during THE WHOLE MOVIE.

The IMDB plot description is a bit misleading. It refers to the killer as a martial arts rapist. He's actually just a martial artist who happens to rape people, there's nothing "martial arts" about the raping, he's not like karate chopping the women in the neck or anything.

So, there a actually a pair of retarded death faces in this movie. First up, Stingray's friend after finding a dead chick in a big ass toolbox at Stingray's warehouse. Why a warehouse? We never know what Stingray's actual job is, why does he have an entire warehouse? Nevermind. This guy dies a dignified death with his tongue hanging out of his face, looking kind of like Robert Barone after an asthma attack.

Next...this guy had a name, and I never cared enough to notice. I wanna say Mike? Ray? Whatever the name was he was Nick's partner who dies looking like a skinny John Lovitz, which is odd because he looked like Joe Flaherty before he died. So, does that mean Jon Lovitz is going to look like Joe Flaherty for about 4 seconds before he dies?

 It stinks!

Stingray's death face surely would've been the ridiculous death face to end ridiculous death faces, unfortunately we don't see his face when he officially bites the dust.

 Bonus, this guy isn't dead, but the extra in the back looks directly at the camera about a dozen times, and it gets funnier every single time he does:

American Mary - Made by Canadians, Starring Canadians

American Mary

Pain Is Inevitable, Suffering Is Optional

Directors: Jen & Sylvia Soska
Writers: Jen & Sylvia Soska
Starring: Katharine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk
Runtime: 103 Minutes

From the DVD cover:

"One of the year’s most horrific highlights, American Mary tells the story of broke student Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) who grows disenchanted with medical school and the doctors she once idolized. The allure of easy money sends a desperate Mary through the gruesome world of underground surgeries but soon finds they leave more marks on her than the so-called freakish clientele..."

The second feature film from the Soska Twins (the duo behind 2009's Dead Hooker in a Trunk), American Mary has it's share of flaws, but overall it's a well done, great looking film with a remarkable lead performance from Katharine Isabelle. American Mary is really Katharine Isabelle's show. She is funny, sexy, and at times even a bit terrifying. She absolutely carries the movie and I really think this film proves that she should be a more well known actress. True, she's appeared in close to 100 films and shows, but she doesn't seem to get many lead parts which is a shame since she clearly has the chops for it.

Teller and Todd Robbins Play Dead

\

RUDE SHAPE PRODUCTIONS
Teller (Penn & Teller) and Todd Robbins'
PLAY DEAD nominated for a Rondo Award!
BEST INDEPENDENT FILM 2012
Voting ends at Sunday, April 7! 

The 11th Annual Rondo Hatton Awards announced their nominations this morning and the live recording of Teller and Todd Robbins' spookshow PLAY DEAD, produced and directed by Shade Rupe, is nominated for a Rondo Awards for Best Independent Film!

Voting begins today and runs through Sunday, April 7th for the 2012 Rondo Hatton Awards, now in their 11th year.

Recorded during the last few performances of Play Dead's nearly year-long run at NoHo's The Players Theatre on MacDougal Street, PLAY DEAD saw its world premiere at Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival before winning the Best Documentary award at Vegas Cine Fest, and moving on to the AFI Center in Washington, DC, and the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, with more plays to come.

Co-conceived and directed by the shorter, quieter half of magician duo Penn & Teller, PLAY DEAD takes classic spookshows of the '50s and '60s and gives them a Grand Guignol spin with some Bullshit! skepticism thrown in. Coney Island showman Todd Robbins stars, sparking up the 70-minute show with his devilish tongue and sparkling wit. As Clive Barker exclaims:

"All I can say is 'wow.' Todd Robbins is blissfully playful and yet at the same time darkly dangerous. You get the feeling that he could turn on a dime and suddenly you wish you were no longer in the room with him. I was blown away."

This live performance film includes the “fiendishly frightening” (New York Post) blackout segments shot in infrared, to allow filmgoers to glimpse some of the magical secrets the live audience never got to see.

This “funny, furious, and wholly enthralling” (Wall Street Journal) theatrical experience is edited by Emery Emery (The Aristocrats, Paul Provenza's Green Room), with music by Emmy nominee Gary Stockdale (The Aristocrats, Penn & Teller's Bullshit!).

Teller has been one half of Las Vegas magic team Penn & Teller since 1975. He is an Emmy, Obie and Writer’s Guild award winner. He penned an episode of HBO’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT, directed a gory, magical version of MACBETH for the Folger Theater in Washington, D.C., and is serving as consultant for the Broadway- bound stage version of THE EXORCIST. His short film & TELLER claimed Dimension Films’ short movie-making prize and landed on the domestic DVD release of George Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD.

For more information, visit the official PLAY DEAD website."

I live nowhere near anywhere this thing will ever be performed, but it looks pretty goddamn spooky. There should be a DVD of the performance soon, really hoping that comes soon because I'd love to see this.

Dracula Vs. Frankenstein - Media Blasters DVD Out Now

Media Blasters announced that a remastered DVD and Blu-ray of Dracula Vs. Frankenstein would be coming last Summer. They ultimately scrapped the Blu-ray and pushed the DVD release back until "eventually". Well it looks like they have finally quietly released this thing, but just barely. It's only available through market place sellers on Amazon. And places like Walmart and Best Buy have it available to order but it's listed as backordered and won't ship for 5-10 days. So, if you're interested in this title, pick this up at once because who knows how long it's going to be out there. I got mine for under $9 from Amazon Marketplace, cheapest appears to be ImportCDs for under $6.

Dracula vs. Frankenstein

"Sensational sequel to 'The Curse of Frankenstein". - Uh, no it isn't

Director: Al Adamson

Writers: William Pugsley, Samuel M. Sherman

Stars: J. Carrol Naish, Lon Chaney Jr., Regina Carrol, Greydon Clark (future director of Final Justice!*)

Runtime: 90 Minutes

Dracula tracks down a wheelchair bound Dr. Frankenstein (under the alias of Dr. Durea)  who operates a spook show called The Creature Emporium. He offers Dr. Frank the body of his original monster in exchange for a blood serum that will make him immortal.

Al Adamson's Dracula vs. Frankenstein is cheap and inept, but a hell of a lot of fun if you're in the right mood for it. Zandor Vorkov makes for an entertaining Dracula. He's hammy and goofy, but he's kind of a hoot to watch and his odd facial expressions kept me smiling throughout the movie. Don't let the awesome cover art fool you though, the monsters both look like crap. Dracula looks like Ben Stiller in a 70's porn actor costume with corpsepaint slathered on his face. Frankenstein's mask looks like it was made entirely of play-doh and sadness. Despite the title of the movie you actually don't see much of Dracula, and even less of Frankenstein, but you do get to see a pretty entertaining final showdown between the two.

As expected, the DVD looks quite a bit better than the previous Troma release. Some scenes do look pretty bad, like a day for night scene of a battle between the two monsters, but day for night usually looks pretty awful, so that's to be expected. Overall things look good given the low budget nature of this movie. The DVD has so many features it's almost ridiculous. That makes the lack of advertising this release has received all the more baffling. Looks good, loaded with features. Let's release it and not tell anybody. Odd.

Gore

Most of the gore is just a bit of blood splashed on the faces of the victims. There are a couple of decapitated head shots that are well done. They were shot to hide the faces so you don't get anything as bad as something like in Wizard of Gore.

 Sex/Nudity

Not much. Regina Carrol has some pretty mesmerizing cleavage, especially in her stage outfit at the beginning of the movie. She has kind of a harsh face, but such a nice body that you are able to overlook the facial harshness to the point where she's actually hot in an odd kind of way. There is a very brief nudity shot with one of the girls Lon Chaney Jr. murders, but it's literally about a second long.

 

 

This movie looks cheap, but man is this a beautiful shot

Things to watch for:

Dracula speaking in echo

Weakest vampire bite ever
Play-doh Frankenstein

Amazing Terrible Dracula power ring effects
"Experimenter" - that can't be a word, right?
Midget Axe Faceplant

Here's a plot point I had a problem with. Dracula needs Dr. Frankenstein's help to make an immortality serum, but I thought Dracula was already immortal? Killable under a couple of circumstances, sure, but as long as he stays out of the sunlight, and he avoids a wooden stake stabbing I was under the impression he would just live forever. Am I wrong?

Here's another thing I found amusing. The Dr. is in a wheelchair. Now, there's nothing funny about wheelchairs, but I think once you're in a wheelchair you might want to cut out the mad science-ry. I mean by the very nature of your chosen profession you have to assume that at some point someone is going to try and kill you. Be it someone you're about to science on, a loved one of someone you're about to science on or one of your creations going berserk on you. You roll around all day in a large awkward chair with your head at perfect baseball bat swinging height. Unless the person attacking you is a midget or has no arms or legs you are pretty screwed.

Walking Dead Season 3 Gets Ridiculous Limited Edition Packaging

Get More:
Geek: Event Coverage, Full Episodes

I'm not a Walking Dead fan (love the zombies, don't care for the drama) but as a huge fan of ridiculously elaborate DVD packaging I think this thing is pretty spectacular. 

Though, anyone who buys this might want to display this set somewhere that is nowhere near your other collectibles or any electronic devices. I seem to recall the Ichi The Killer blood pack set being a bit leaky. I'd hate for someone to ruin their collection with a leaky ass Walking Dead case.

Astron-6's Manborg - April 30th

The latest from the Astron-6 team is due out on DVD April 30th from the fine folks at Dark Sky Films. My only exposure to Astron-6 so far was Father's Day, which I enjoyed pretty immensely. A very dark movie but frequently pretty goddamn hilarious. The last scene destroyed me. One of the biggest laughs I had out of all of the 400 movies I watched last year. Probably also the darkest thing I've ever laughed at.

I'll be checking this out as soon as I get a chance.

Burial Ground - Limited Mediabook Blu-Ray!

Limited Edition (1,000 of each cover) Blu-ray coming from Austria in March. It looks like an awesome release of one of the all time best worst zombie movies. It's amazing releases like this that really make me wish I made more money. Well, and it kind of sucks being poor. That's pretty much general knowledge I believe. That's probably the main reason I wish I made more money. Cool crap like this, immediate second.

It's a German release, but there will be English audio. Those interested can get this from from D&T Mailorder. Diabolik will also have this soon.

Extras Include
-Trailer
-Interviews
-Still Gallery
-16-Page Booklet