Thursday, November 27, 2014

HILLBILLY HORROR SHOW VOL. 1 (2014)

HILLBILLY HORROR SHOW VOL. 1 (2014) 

Label: Leomark Studio
Duration: 60 Minutes
Region Code; 0 NTSC
Rating: Unrated Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 
Director: Sharif Salama, Bill Hayes, Theo Stephansky, Timothy Zwica
Cast: Bo Keister, Scott Geiter, Rachel Faulkner

Here we have an hour long horror anthology of short films introduced by fun loving hillbillies Bo and Cephus and they're scantly clad  cousin Lulu who is none to hard on the eyes. The hillbilly shtick only goes so far with me but onto the films we begin with FRANKY AND THE ANT (2012)  from director Bill Hayes. A nine-minute tale of a betrayed lover and what turns out to be a very short day trip with his lover and best friend. The film is nicely composed and tells a damn decent story in just nine minutes, bonus points for the use of the Carl Martin blues number "Farewell to You Baby" and local band The Deludes from right here in Tucson who offer up a very cool Stones influenced rocker. 

Up next is AMUSED (2011) a nine-minute short from director Cuyle Carvin, set a snow bound rural area an woman arrives to find a feral man feasting on her daughter in the kitchen. After the initial shock she must run for her life and find a weapon to fend of the ravenous attacker who laughs like the joker throughout. I didn't love this one, of the four on the disc it's the one I would most likely skip on repeat viewing, it's a bit generic and the execution's clumsy. It's didn't help that this was the most consumer grade photographed if the shorts, now I don't mind the micro-budget aesthetic but I need something in the writing, execution or acting to shine through to make it work for me and this didn't have any of that. 


DOPPELGANGER four-minute stop-motion animation short directed by Theo Stephansky which owes quite a bit to Ray Harryhausen. A very simplistic short wherein a skeleton emerges from a cave in search of companionship only to succeed with less than desirable consequences. Short on story this one feels more like a demo reel or proof of concept, I give the team a lot of props for the fluid stop-motion animation of the skeletons, very cool but not the most engrossing short film. 


The fourth and final film THE NEST (2011) is the best of the bunch, a thirty-two minute short from director Timothy Zwica. A tasty killer insect film that begins when a local rancher discovers that one of his horses have been stripped to the bone, and it has something to do with a nearby diner and the proprietor's award winning honey. This is the longest of the bunch and the story is engrossing with some decent performances, especially the woman playing the proprietor of the diner. At the heart of the story are a swarm of bird sized bees with a taste for flesh, a very well executed story and the digital effects are pretty great, the deadly bees are rendered quite well. .This is the one film on the disc that I felt could be a damn decent full length feature with a strong b-movie story and the highest production value of the bunch, this one might just we worth the $10 price tag alone. 


As micro-budget horror anthologies go this is alright stuff with THE NEST being far and away the best of the bunch, truth be told it's the one entry I would re watch. With two more volumes of the Hillbilly Horror Show on tap this next year and I hope to see the producers step-it up with more consistency and some higher production values, if they had found four to five films of the same quality as THE NEST this would have been something special. I was sort of annoyed by the redneck aesthetic of the intros and the artwork, the tired riff on rural yahoos has zero appeal but I did enjoy the films to varying degrees, and that's what matters, not great but it's a decent enough watch with one stand-out entry.  

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Two More PEEKARAMA double-features from VINEGAR SYNDROME on 1/13



SEXUAL HEIGHTS - UNDULATIONS (1981) 

Label: Vinegar Syndrome
Run Time: 170 Minutes Original Language: English
Color Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1 Dolby Digital Mono Region 0
Genre: EROTICA Rating: NR
Director: Carlos Tobalina
Cast: Mai Lin, Serena, John Holmes, Jamie Gillis

SEXUAL HEIGHTS: A man whose marriage was destroyed by an affair with the babysitter plots a lusty revenge, only to have his plans turn into the ultimate orgy!

UNDULATIONS: The biggest stars in sex films gather to watch the latest in erotic television, but their desires can't be confined to the screen.








Bonus Features:
- Original Theatrical Trailers for Both Films




THREE RIPENING CHERRIES - SENSUAL FIRE (1979) 


Label: Vinegar Syndrome
CRun Time: 171 Minutes Original Language: English
Color Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1 Dolby Digital Mono Region 0
Genre: EROTICA Rating: NR
Director: Carlos Tobalina
Cast: Dorothy LeMay, Kitty Shayne, Jamie Gillis, Serena, Jesie St. James

THREE RIPENING CHERRIES: Three suburban virgins, eager to learn about sex, take their education into their own hands. When life gives them the opportunity to wet their appetites, will the reality live up to the fantasy?

SENSUAL FIRE: A man lusts after his nubile stepdaughter, knowing the sinful nature of his desires. Can he satisfy his lust with others or will his secret fantasies send him over the edge?




Bonus Features:
- New 2K restoration from the 35mm negative
- Original Theatrical Trailers for Both Films

'PRETTY PEACHES' and 'RIBALD TALES OF CANTERBURY' on DVD 1/13 from VINEGAR SYNDROME


PRETTY PEACHES (1978) 
Label: Vinegar Syndrome
Run Time: 92 Minutes Original Language: English
Color Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1 Dolby Digital Mono Region 0
Genre: EROTICA Rating: NR
Director: Carlos Tobalina
Cast: John Holmes, Leslie Bovee, Annette Haven

After attending her father's wedding, innocent Peaches crashes her jeep in the forest only to wake up with complete amnesia. She is quickly rescued by two manipulative men who hope to sell her back to her family for a hefty ransom. Their adventures introduce Peaches to a crazy doctor with very unusual treatment methods, a sleazy sex show promoter and more, but nothing helps. Poor Peaches doesn't know what to do...until she remembers Daddy!

Alex deRenzy's acclaimed classic, Pretty Peaches, ranks as one of the craziest, sexiest, and funniest X rated comedies ever made. Starring Desiree Cousteau and Juliet Anderson in their screen debuts, and co-starring Joey Silvera, John Leslie, and Paul Thomas, Pretty Peaches makes its official DVD debut uncut and fully restored in 2k.





Bonus Features:
- New 2k Scan and Restoration from 35mm Vault Elements
- Rare Archival Interview with Alex deRenzy
- Interview with Film Historian Ted Mcilvenna
- Original Theatrical Trailers for Three deRenzy Films

RIBALD TALES OF CANTERBURY - TASTY (1985)

Label: Vinegar Syndrome
Run Time: 167 Minutes Original Language: English
Color Widescreen Anamorphic 1.85:1 Dolby Digital Mono Region 0
Genre: EROTICA Rating: NR
Director: Bud Lee
Cast: Hyapatia Lee, Sharon Kelly, Peter North, Patti Petite, Gail Force

Screenwriter, photographer and husband of actress Hyapatia Lee, Bud Lee made his directorial debut with these 1985 features shot back-to-back. They represent two of the last big budget 35mm X rated films to receive a theatrical release. First, in RIBALD TALES OF CANTERBURY, a group of knights, journeying across the British countryside in the 15th century, share fantastic and absurd stories of sexual conquests. Hyapatia Lee and Coleen Brennan (aka Sharon Kelly) star. Then, in TASTY, struggling DJ Tasty Tastums realizes that what listeners really want to hear are the sounds of sex! Both RIBALD TALES and TASTY have been restored from their original 35mm negatives.







Bonus Features:
- New 2k Scan and Restoration from 35mm Negative
- Commentary Track with director Bud Lee on RIBALD TALES
- Video Interview with Bud Lee
- Original Theatrical Trailers for Both Films

ARROW VIDEO 2015 TITLES ANNOUNCED!

Today ARROW VIDEO in the UK announced their first round of releases for 2015 and it's a whopper! First up is the non-SteelBook remaster edition of Dario Argento's TENEBRE with a brand new interview with Maitland McDonagh, author of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento.

My most anticipated title would be David Cronenberg's RABID starring porn star Marilyn Chambers. It features a brand new HD transfer and a ton of extras. As for non-horror we have both Stanley Kubrick's THE KILLING and Michael Mann's THIEF coming to UK Blu-ray plus more Roger Corman directed Poe adaptation starring Vincent Price in addition to THE COMEDY OF TERRORS starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff.

Read on and feast your eyes on the juicy details, artwork and there are Amazon UK pre-order links at the bottom of the page. 


TENEBRE
Release Date: January 19th 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Anthony Franciosa, Daria Nicolodi, John Saxon
Directed by: Dario Argento

Synopsis: Terror Beyond Belief!

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 EDITION CONTENTS:
- Newly remastered High Definition digital transfer of the film
- Presented in High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD
- Optional original English and 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
- Brand new interview with Maitland McDonagh, author of Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento
- Original Trailer
- Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by GGilles Vranckx
- Exclusive collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Alan Jones, author of Profondo Argento, an interview with cinematographer Luciano Tovoli and an appreciation of the film by director Peter Strickland, illustrated with original posters and lobby cards

Region: B
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD1043
Duration: 101 mins
Language: English/Italian
Subtitles: English/ English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (16×9)
Audio: Uncompressed PCM Mono 2.0
Colour

THE KILLING + KILLER'S KISS

Release Date: February 9th 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
Director: Stanley Kubrick

Synopsis: An ex-con, a corrupt cop, a reformed alcoholic, a wrestler, a sharpshooter and a pair of inside men: these seven men intent on executing the perfect robbery and taking a racetrack for two million dollars. But this is the world of film noir, a tough, sour place where nothing quite goes as planned…

For his third feature Stanley Kubrick adapted Lionel White’s Clean Break with a little help from hard-boiled specialist Jim Thompson (The Killer Inside Me), and in doing so created a heist movie classic, one to rank alongside John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. The robbery itself is one of cinema’s great set-pieces, as taut a piece of filmmaking as you’ll ever find, expertly controlled by Kubrick, who called The Killing his “first mature work”.

Starring Sterling Hayden (Johnny Guitar, The Godfather), perennial fall guy Elisha Cook Jr (The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep) and Marie Windsor (The Narrow Margin) as his duplicitous wife, The Killing is quintessential film noir, still as brutal, thrilling and audacious as it was almost six decades ago.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature
- Original uncompressed mono PCM Audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Stanley Kurbrick’s second feature, Killer’s Kiss (1955), presented in High Definition (1080p)
- A look at Kubrick's 1950s output with critic Michel Ciment
- An appreciation by filmmaker Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Sightseers)
- An extract from the French television series Journal de la cinéma featuring an interview with Sterling Hayden
- Original theatrical trailers for both films
- Collector’s booklet containing new writing by Peter Kramer (author of volumes on Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange), Barry Forshaw and filmmaker Ron Peck, illustrated with original archive stills

Region: B
Rating: 12
Cat No: FCD1046
Duration: 84 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: 1.0 Mono
THIEF 
Limited Slipcase Edition
Release Date: January 26th 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: James Caan, Tuesday Weld, Willie Nelson
Directed by: Michael Mann

Synopsis: For his first theatrical feature, Michael Mann (Manhunter, Public Enemies) returned to the rain-soaked streets of his hometown, Chicago, for a stunning piece of neo-noir starring James Caan (The Godfather, Rollerball) at his toughest.

Caan plays Frank, a jewel thief and former convict who is looking to settle down with his girlfriend (Tuesday Weld, Once Upon a Time in America) and begin a family. But when his ‘fence’ is thrown from a window and the Chicago mafia begin to flex their muscles, his hopes of a quiet life become anything but…

With a sterling supporting cast in the shape of James Belushi, Robert Prosky, Willie Nelson and Dennis Farina, lush electronic score by Tangerine Dream and the assured direction of Mann, Thief is a standout eighties crime flick that paved the way for the his later urban thrillers such as Heat and Collateral as well as Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- Limited Slipcase Edition [3000 units] featuring two versions of the film
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the director’s cut from a new 4K film transfer, approved by director Michael Mann, with uncompressed 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the original theatrical cut [Limited Edition Exclusive] with original uncompressed 2.0 Stereo PCM audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Optional isolated music and effects track on the theatrical cut
Audio commentary by writer-director Michael Mann and actor James Caan
- The Directors: Michael Mann – a 2001 documentary on the filmmaker, containing interviews with Mann, James Belushi, William Petersen, Jon Voight and others
- Stolen Dreams - a new interview with Caan, filmed exclusively for this release
- Hollywood USA: James Caan – an episode of the French TV series Ciné regards devoted to the actor, filmed shortly after Thief had finished production
- The Art of the Heist - an examination of Thief with writer and critic F.X. Feeney, author of the Taschen volume on Michael Mann
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by maarko phntm
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Brad Stevens

Region: B
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD1027
Duration: 125 and 122 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: 5.1 / 2.0
Colour
RABID 
SteelBook
Release Date: February 2nd 2015
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Starring: Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver
Directed by: David Cronenberg

Synopsis: PRAY IT DOESN’T HAPPEN TO YOU!

First come the Shivers… then, you turn RABID! Celebrated Canadian cult auteur David Cronenberg (The Fly, Videodrome) followed up Shivers with this tense and gory thriller which expands upon the venereal disease theme of that film, this time unleashing it on the whole of downtown Montreal – with terrifying consequences.

When beautiful Rose (adult film star Marilyn Chambers) is badly injured in a motorcycle crash, Dr. Keloid, who is in the process of developing a revolutionary new type of skin-graft, seizes the opportunity to test out his as yet unproven methods. The surgery appears successful and Rose seems restored to full health. But all is not as it should be – Rose has been transformed into a contagious blood-sucker, endowed with a bizarre, needle-like protrusion in her armpit with which she drains the blood from those unfortunate enough to be in her vicinity.

An important landmark in the early career of Cronenberg, Rabid sees the director returning to the viral theme of his earlier work but on a much larger (and more assured) scale – where the infection has shifted from the confines of a single apartment block to the expansive shopping centres and motorways of Canada’s second largest city.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- Limited Edition SteelBook packaging
- New High Definition Digital Transfer
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature
- Original mono audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio Commentary with writer-director David Cronenberg
- Audio Commentary with William Beard, author of The Artist as Monster: The Cinema of David Cronenberg
- Archive interview with David Cronenberg
- Brand new interview with executive producer Ivan Reitman
- Brand new interview with co-producer Don Carmody
- Make-up Memories: Joe Blasco Remembers Rabid – A short featurette in which Blasco recalls how the film’s various gruesome effects were achieved
- Raw, Rough and Rabid: The Lacerating Legacy of Cinépix – Featurette looking back at the early years of the celebrated Canadian production company, including interviews with author Kier-La Janisse and special makeup artist Joe Blasco
- The Directors: David Cronenberg – A 1999 documentary on the filmmaker, containing interviews with Cronenberg, Marilyn Chambers, Deborah Harry, Michael Ironside, Peter Weller and others
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing on the film by Kier-La Janisse, reprinted excerpts of Cronenberg on Cronenberg and more, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

Region: B/2
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD1017
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour
WITHNAIL AND I 

Release Date: February 9th 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown, Michael Elphick
Directed by: Bruce Robinson

Synopsis:The finest cult film known to humanity!

Camden Town, the arse-end of the sixties. Two struggling, unemployed actors decide some respite is in order and so depart their miserable flat for a week in the Lake District – one that will involve rain, booze, minimal supplies, a randy bull and an even randier Uncle Monty.

Based on the real-life experiences of former actor turned writer/director Bruce Robinson, WITHNAIL and I has become one of British cinema’s most fondly remembered comedies. A cult film in the truest sense that has also become a classic.

Perfectly cast – with career-defining roles for Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann, Richard Griffiths and Ralph Brown – and crammed with irresistibly quotable dialogue, WITHNAIL and I is a sheer delight, even on the umpteenth viewing.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- New 2K restoration of WITHNAIL and I from the original camera negative, supervised and approved by director of photography Peter Hannan
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) Presentation
- Original uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audios
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Audio commentary by writer-director Bruce Robinson
- Audio commentary by critic and writer Kevin Jackson, author of the BFI Modern Classic on WITHNAIL and I
- All four original ‘Withnail Weekend’ documentaries, first screened on Channel 4 in 1999, including The Peculiar Memories of Bruce Robinson, which looks at the director’s career, Withnail & Us, which focuses on the film’s making, and two shorter documentaries, I Demand to Have Some Booze and Withnail on the Pier
- Newly filmed interview with production designer Michael Pickwoad, who discusses his work on Withnail & I
- An appreciation of Withnail & I by Sam Bain, co-creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat
- Theatrical trailers
- Illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing by Vic Pratt.

Region: B
Rating: 15
Cat No: FCD1045
Duration: 104 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: 1.0 Mono
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

Release Date: February 16th 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh
Directed by: John Frankenheimer

Synopsis: WHY DON’T YOU PASS THE TIME BY PLAYING A LITTLE SOLITAIRE?

After saving the lives of his platoon during the Korean War, Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is hailed as a bona fide American hero. This couldn’t have come at a better time for his mother (Angela Lansbury) who is hell-bent on boosting the career of his stepfather, a senator straight from the McCarthyite wing of the US political spectrum with designs on the Presidency.

So far so familiar – but why does Shaw’s former captain (Frank Sinatra) have recurring nightmares that suggest that his distinguished comrade-in-arms might not be all that he seems?

Based on the memorably paranoid bestseller by Richard Condon (Prizzi’s Honor), this is one of the greatest of all Cold War suspense thrillers, not least for its alarmingly original take on the notion of “the enemy within”. Angela Lansbury won multiple awards and an Oscar nomination for her performance as one of the most monstrous mothers in screen history, but perhaps the most unnerving thing about the film is the way that its political satire remains so perfectly on target more than half a century later.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the main feature, transferred from original elements by MGM
- Uncompressed 1.0 PCM soundtrack
- Optional English SDH subtitles
- Audio commentary by director John Frankenheimer
- The Directors: John Frankenheimer, an hour-long portrait from 2000, including interviews with Frankenheimer, Kirk Douglas, Samuel L. Jackson, Roy Scheider, Rod Steiger and many others
Interview with John Frankenheimer, Frank Sinatra and screenwriter George Axelrod from the film’s 1988 revival
- Queen of Diamonds: an interview with Angela Lansbury
- A Little Solitaire: an appreciation of the film by director William Friedkin (The Exorcist)
- Stills gallery
- Theatrical trailer
- More to be announced!

Region: B
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD1047
Duration: 126 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: 1.0 mono
B&W
THE COMEDY OF TERRORS 

Release Date: February 16th 2015
Format: Dual Format BD/DVD
Starring: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff
Director: Jacques Tourneur

Synopsis: From Jacques Tourneur, director of numerous horror classics including Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and Night of the Demon, comes The Comedy of Terrors – a gleefully macabre tale which brings together genre greats Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff.

Price plays Waldo Trumbull, a perpetually inebriated, down-on-his-luck undertaker who has struck on an interesting way to boost business – by hastening the deaths of those whom he buries. When landlord Mr. Black (Basil Rathbone) threatens to put him out on the street for falling behind with the rent, Trumbull, together with his reluctant and bumbling assistant Felix Gillie (Lorre), hatches an ill-advised plan to “kill two birds with one stone”, so to speak…

The penultimate directorial effort from Tourneur, The Comedy of Terrors bears many of the hallmarks of the master filmmaker’s earlier works, whilst adding a healthy dash of humour to the proceedings. Careful – you might just die laughing!

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
- Original Mono 2.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio Commentary with Price historian David Del Valle
Extensive archive interview with Vincent Price
- Whispering in Distant Chambers: The Nightfall of Jacques Tourneur – a specially-commissioned video essay by David Cairns, which charts the career of director Tourneur
- Richard Matheson Storyteller – an archive featurette on the Comedy of Terrors writer
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Fujiwara, author of Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

Region: B/2
Rating: 12
Cat No: FCD1041
Duration: 83 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: 2.0 Mono
Colour


THE TOMB OF LIGEIA

Release Date: February 23rd 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Vincent Price, Elizabeth Shepherd, John Westbrook
Directed by: Roger Corman

Synopsis: THE EYES, THEY CONFOUND ME!

For the last of his cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, Roger Corman asked screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown) to turn Poe’s story ‘Ligeia’ into another vehicle for Vincent Price, who once again plays a man so haunted by his past that he is unable to function in the present.

In this case the past comes in the form of his now-deceased first wife Ligeia, who casts a long shadow over an ill-advised second marriage to a woman who resembles her (Elizabeth Shepherd), particularly when he becomes convinced that Ligeia’s spirit is returning to him in the form of a black cat. But is this actually a delusion on his part?

Although the doom-laden narrative and Price’s tormented performance had become well established ingredients in the Corman Poe cycle, the film looks strikingly different from the earlier films, with much of it taking place in broad daylight, and shot in actual English locations (notably Stonehenge and Norfolk’s Castle Acre Priory) instead of
Hollywood sets.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
- Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
- Optional isolated music and effects track
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by director and producer Roger Corman
- Audio commentary by star Elizabeth Shepherd
- All-new interviews with crew members including cowriter/production assistant Paul Mayersberg, first assistant director David Tringham, clapper loader Bob Jordan and composer Kenneth V. Jones
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil
- Collector’s booklet containing new writing by Julian Upton, illustrated with original production stills.

Rating: 12
Cat No: FCD1029
Duration: 82 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: 1.0 mono
Colour

THE HAUNTED PALACE

Release Date: February 23rd 2015
Format: Blu-ray
Starring: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jr.
Directed by: Roger Corman

Synopsis: ONE BECOMES ACCUSTOMED TO THE DARKNESS…
Although recognised as part of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe cycle (its title comes from a Poe poem), The Haunted Palace has a much more significant place in film history for being the first high-profile adaptation of the work of H.P. Lovecraft, in this case his novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

Ward is one of two characters played by Vincent Price, the other being Ward’s great-great-grandfather Joseph Curwen, burned as a warlock 110 years before. When Ward returns to the village of Arkham to reclaim the family mansion, his striking resemblance to his ancestor is just the first of many macabre events that proceed to unfold, including the screen debut of Lovecraft’s legendary Necronomicon.

As before, Corman and his team worked wonders with their modest budget, with Daniel Haller’s sets amongst the most elaborate in all the Poe cycle, enhanced by genuinely creepy moments such as the crowd of deformed villagers still living under Curwen’s curse.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements
by MGM
- Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
- Optional isolated music and effects track
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by Vincent Price’s biographer David Del Valle and writer Derek Botelho
- Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema, and the challenges of adapting his work
- A Change of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman
- Stills and Poster Gallery
- Original Theatrical Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin
- Collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by Roger Luckhurst, illustrated with original archive stills

Region: B
Rating: 15
Cat No: FCD1028
Duration: 87 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: 1.0 mono
Colour


'SIX GOTHIC TALES' LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX coming 12/8 from ARROW VIDEO!





LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX-SET – December 8th 2014

From the Merchant of Menace, Vincent Price, and the King of the B’s, Roger Corman, come six Gothic tales inspired by the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the limited edition release of this Six Gothic Tales box set. Limited to a run of just 2000 copies, this much-anticipated release will include The Fall of the House of Usher, Tales of Terror, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Haunted Palace and The Tomb of Ligeia.  

In keeping with Arrow Video tradition, this limited edition box-set will host a wealth of new bonus features sure to please Price, Corman and Poe fans alike. The set will include various new featurettes such as Kim Newman on Edgar Allan Poe, in which the novelist and critic looks at Poe’s influence on the big screen and Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema. In the featurette Cats in Horror Films, critic, novelist and Cats on Film blogger Anne Billson discusses the genre contributions of our feline friends.

Alongside these newly commissioned featurettes, various other documentaries will be included such as The Two Faces of Peter Lorre (1984), the English-friendly debut of acclaimed filmmaker Harun Farocki’s career-spanning portrait of Lorre’s early days through to his untimely death. And The Directors: Roger Corman, an hour-long episode from the TV series on the filmmaker featuring contributions from James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard will also be included.

Other standout bonus content includes all-new interviews with The Tomb of Ligeia crew members including co-writer/production assistant Paul Mayersberg (who would go on to write The Man Who Fell to Earth and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence among others).

The Haunted Palace features a newly recorded audio commentary by Vincent Price's biographer David Del Valle and Tales of Terror will include Rob Green's acclaimed short film from the nineties,The Black Cat (1993) and The Raven  will include his other short The Trick, (1996).

The set will be rounded off with a 200-page book containing a wealth of new writing on each of the films, an interview with Roger Corman, and reproductions of tie-in comic books for Tales of Terror,The Raven and The Tomb of Ligeia originally published in the sixties.


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Synopsis: 
In The Fall of the House of Usher, a young man learns of a family curse that threatens his happiness with his bride-to-be. In The Pit and the Pendulum, a brother investigates the untimely death of sister, played by Barbara Steele. Tales of Terror adapts three Poe classics, MorellaThe Black Cat and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, each starring a horror icon. The Raven is a comic take on the famous poem concerning three rival magicians. In The Haunted Palace, a newcomer in a New England town is suspected of being a warlock. And in The Tomb of Ligeia, filmed in Norfolk and at Stonehenge, a widower’s upcoming marriage plans are thwarted by his dead first wife.

The six films boast a remarkable cast list: not just Price and Steele (Black Sunday), but also Boris Karloff (Frankenstein), Peter Lorre (M, The Beast with Five Fingers), Lon Chaney Jr (The Wolf Man, Spider Baby), Basil Rathbone (The Black Cat) and a very young Jack Nicholson. Adapted for the screen by Richard Matheson (The Twilight Zone, I Am Legend) and Robert Towne (Chinatown), these Six Gothic Tales now rank as classic examples of sixties horror cinema.

Special Edition Contents
· LIMITED EDITION BOXED-SET (2000 COPIES)
· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of all six features, presented across six Blu-rays
· Original uncompressed mono PCM Audio for all films
· Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for all films

The Fall of the House of Usher

EDGAR ALLAN POE’S OVERWHELMING TALE OF EVIL & TORMENT

When exploitation maestro Roger Corman decided to raise his game by hiring Vincent Price to star in an adaptation of a classic tale by Edgar Allan Poe, he set in train a series of Poe adaptations that would redefine American horror cinema.

When Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) visits his fiancée Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey) in her crumbling family mansion, her brother Roderick (Price) tries to talk him out of the wedding, explaining that the Usher family is cursed and that extending its bloodline will only prolong the agony. Madeline wants to elope with Philip, but neither of them can predict what ruthless lengths Roderick will go to in order to keep them apart.

Richard Matheson’s intelligent, literate script is enhanced by Floyd Crosby’s stylish widescreen cinematography, but it’s Price’s anguished conviction in one of his signature roles that makes the film so chillingly memorable over half a century on.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
 Original uncompressed 2.0 Mono PCM Audio
 Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
 Audio commentary with director and producer Roger Corman
 Legend to Legend, an interview with director and former Corman apprentice Joe Dante
 Interview with author and Gothic horror expert Jonathan Rigby
 Fragments of the House of Usher, a specially-commissioned video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns examining Corman’s film in relation to Poe’s story
 Archival interview with Vincent Price
 Original Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys

The Pit and the Pendulum

DOWN - STILL UNCEASINGLY - STILL INEVITABLY DOWN!

A horse-drawn carriage pulls up on a deserted beach. A sombre figure dismounts and gazes up towards his destination – a foreboding cliff-top castle perched high above the crashing waves. Thus the perfect Gothic scene is set for The Pit and the Pendulum, the second of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations once again starring the ever-reliable Vincent Price (The Fall of the House of Usher, Theatre of Blood) alongside the bewitching Barbara Steele (Black Sunday).

Having learned of the sudden death of his sister Elizabeth (Steele), Francis Barnard (John Kerr) sets out to the castle of his brother-in-law, Nicholas Medina (Price), to uncover the cause of her untimely demise. A distraught, grief-stricken Nicholas can offer only the vaguest explanations as to Elizabeth’s death – at first citing “something in her blood”, but later asserting that she quite literally “died of fright”. What sort of unspeakable horrors are buried within the walls of this castle that could cause one’s heart to stop so? With Francis determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, the terrible truth will not stay buried for long.

Right from its brooding kaleidoscopic opening titles, The Pit and Pendulum draws you into its world of cobwebs, secret passageways and dusty suits of armour. All the necessary elements are present and correct and, along with one of Price’s most tortured performances, makes The Pit and the Pendulum every inch the Gothic masterpiece.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
 High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
 Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
 Optional isolated music and effects track
 Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
 Audio commentary with director and producer Roger Corman
 Audio commentary by critic Tim Lucas
 Behind the Swinging Blade, a new documentary on the making of The Pit and the Pendulum featuring Roger Corman, star Barbara Steele, Vincent Price’s daughter Victoria Price and more!
 Added TV Sequence – Shot in 1968 to pad out the film for the longer TV time slot, this scene features star Luana Anders
 An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe with Vincent Price (1970, 52 mins), Price reads a selection of Poe’s classic stories before a live audience, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum (with optional SDH subtitles)
 Original Trailer
 Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx

Tales of Terror

TRILOGY OF SHOCK AND HORROR!

In his earlier Edgar Allan Poe films, Roger Corman took short stories by the great Gothic master and expanded them into full-length features. Here, by contrast, the stories stay short, the only other thing they have in common being the participation of Vincent Price.

In ‘Morella’, Price plays a tormented man forced to confront a dark family secret when his long estranged daughter tracks him down. In ‘The Black Cat’, he’s the rakish lover of the wife of Peter Lorre, who naturally plots a deadly revenge. And in the title role of ‘The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar’, he tries to relieve chronic pain by asking Basil Rathbone to hypnotise him, something that leaves poor Valdemar hovering on the border between the dead and the living.

Corman’s previous Poe films were played completely straight, and parts of Tales of Terror are as authentically creepy as any of them. But he also stirred comedy into the Poe brew for the first time, particularly in the scenes between Price and Lorre.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
 High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
 Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio Optional isolated music and effects track
 Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• The Directors: Roger Corman, an hour-long documentary on the filmmaker featuring contributions from James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard
 Kim Newman on Edgar Allan Poe, the novelist and critic looks at Poe’s influence on the big screen
• Cats in Horror Films, critic, novelist and Cats on Film blogger Anne Billson discusses the genre contributions of our feline friends
 The Black Cat, a 1993 short film adaptation of Poe’s classic tale directed by Rob Green (The Bunker)
 Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford

The Raven

ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY…

Although The Raven is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poems, the lack of a narrative hook initially stumped screenwriting legend Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Duel) until he realised that the idea of adapting the poem was so ridiculous that he might as well make it a comedy.

And what a comedy! Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff play rival magicians whose paths cross when Dr Craven (Price) hears Dr Bedlo tap-tap-tapping on his windowpane. For Bedlo has been turned into a raven by Dr Scarabus (Karloff), and when transformed back into his old self he naturally vows revenge. But the scripted rivalry is as nothing compared to three great horror masters relentlessly upstaging each other - even a young Jack Nicholson, as Bedlo’s son, barely gets a look-in.

If there’s not much authentic Poe in these sorcery shenanigans, the sets and cinematography more than compensate: director Roger Corman was by then a master of conjuring Gothic atmosphere on a very modest budget.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
 High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
 Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
 Optional isolated music and effects track
 Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
 The Two Faces of Peter Lorre (1984, 61 mins), Harun Farocki’s career-spanning portrait from Lorre’s early days in the theatre alongside Brecht to his untimely death
•Richard Matheson: Storyteller, an interview with the legendary novelist and screenwriter
 Corman’s Comedy of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman about making The Raven
 The Trick, a short film about rival magicians by Rob Green (The Bunker)
 Promotional Record
 Stills and Poster Gallery
 Original Theatrical Trailer
 Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov

The Haunted Palace

ONE BECOMES ACCUSTOMED TO THE DARKNESS…

Although recognised as part of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe cycle (its title comes from a Poe poem), The Haunted Palace has a much more significant place in film history for being the first high-profile adaptation of the work of H.P. Lovecraft, in this case his novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

Ward is one of two characters played by Vincent Price, the other being Ward’s great-great-grandfather Joseph Curwen, burned as a warlock 110 years before. When Ward returns to the village of Arkham to reclaim the family mansion, his striking resemblance to his ancestor is just the first of many macabre events that proceed to unfold, including the screen debut of Lovecraft’s legendary Necronomicon.

As before, Corman and his team worked wonders with their modest budget, with Daniel Haller’s sets amongst the most elaborate in all the Poe cycle, enhanced by genuinely creepy moments such as the crowd of deformed villagers still living under Curwen’s curse.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
 High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
 Optional isolated music and effects track
 Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
 Audio commentary by Vincent Price’s biographer David Del Valle and writer Derek Botelho
 Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema, and the challenges of adapting his work
 A Change of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman
 Stills and Poster Gallery
 Original Theatrical Trailer
 Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

The Tomb of Ligeia

THE EYES, THEY CONFOUND ME!

For the last of his cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, Roger Corman asked screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown) to turn Poe’s story ‘Ligeia’ into another vehicle for Vincent Price, who once again plays a man so haunted by his past that he is unable to function in the present.

In this case the past comes in the form of his now-deceased first wife Ligeia, who casts a long shadow over an ill-advised second marriage to a woman who resembles her (Elizabeth Shepherd), particularly when he becomes convinced that Ligeia’s spirit is returning to him in the form of a black cat. But is this actually a delusion on his part?

Although the doom-laden narrative and Price’s tormented performance had become well established ingredients in the Corman Poe cycle, the film looks strikingly different from the earlier films, with much of it taking place in broad daylight, and shot in actual English locations (notably Stonehenge and Norfolk’s Castle Acre Priory) instead of Hollywood sets.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
  High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
 Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio
 Optional isolated music and effects track
 Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
 Audio commentary by director and producer Roger Corman
 Audio commentary by star Elizabeth Shepherd
  All-new interviews with crew members including cowriter/ production assistant Paul Mayersberg, first assistant director David Tringham, clapper loader Bob Jordan and composer Kenneth V. Jones
 Original Theatrical Trailer
 Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil


Details
Release Date                                     Monday 8th December 2014
Certificate                                           12
Formats                                               Blu-ray
Language                                             English (English SDH Subtitles)
Running Time                                    507 mins
Number of Discs                               2
Region                                                  B/2
Aspect Ratio                                       2.35:1
Audio                                                    Mono 2.0
Colour                                                   Colour
RRP                                                        £79.99
Cat Number                                       FCD1025