Saturday, March 6, 2021

JUNE LOCKS & LOADS WITH ‘80s JUNGLE MAYHEM FROM BRUNO MATTEI, CLAUDIO FRAGASSO & DICK RANDALL FROM SEVERIN FILMS!


On June 22nd, Severin Films is brandishing a machete and hacking through the thick brush of exploitation cinema history to retrieve a trio of hidden treasures – STRIKE COMMANDO (1986), STRIKE COMMANDO 2 (1988) and INVADERS OF THE LOST GOLD (1982) – all featuring new Special Features and presented on Blu-Ray for the first time ever.

STRIKE COMMANDO (1986)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: Cannes Cut - English Mono and Italian with English for Extended Scenes / Theatrical Cut - English Mono and Italian Mono
Closed Captions: English SDH
Region: A/1

Two years before the deranged genius of ROBOWAR and SHOCKING DARK, writer/director Bruno Mattei and co-writers Claudio Fragasso & Rossella Drudi borrowed from RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II, MISSING IN ACTION and more to create their own mind-blowing ‘Namsploitation masterpiece: Reb Brown (UNCOMMON VALOR) stars as Sgt. Mike Ransom, a one-man war machine on a screaming-for-vengeance mission against brutal Vietcong, merciless Russians, double-crossing U.S. officers and acres of bullet-blasted Philippines jungle. Christopher Connelly (RAIDERS OF ATLANTIS), Luciano Pigozzi (ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK) and Jim Gaines (ISLAND OF THE LIVING DEAD) co-star in this exploding bamboo gun-tower of “Mattei magic at its finest” (Good Efficient Butchery), now mastered in 2K from the original negative for the first time.

Special Features:
- War Machine – Interview with Co-Director Claudio Fragasso
- All Quiet On The Philippine Front – Interview with Screenwriter Rossella Drudi
- In-Production Promo
- Trailer

STRIKE COMMANDO 2 (1988)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: Cannes Cut - English Mono and Italian with English for Extended Scenes / Theatrical Cut - English Mono and Italian Mono
Closed Captions: English SDH
Region: A/1

Director Bruno Mattei and screenwriters Claudio Fragasso & Rossella Drudi return to the Philippine jungles with a higher budget, bigger action and Richard Harris (yes, that Richard Harris) for a crowd-pleaser that shamelessly borrows from APOCALYPSE NOW, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, RAMBO and beyond. This time, Sgt Mike Ransom (Brent Huff of GWENDOLINE fame) battles the KGB, rogue CIA agents, an army of ninjas, a tough bar owner (Miss World 1977 Mary Stavin) and “all the stuntman craziness and explosions you can cram into 90 minutes” (DTV Connoisseur). Mel Davidson (ROBOWAR) and Vic Diaz (THE BIG BIRD CAGE) co-star in this slow-motion machine-gun of Mattei mayhem that’s “just as insane as its predecessor” (Good Efficient Butchery), now featuring a 2K scan from the original negative for the first time ever.

Special Features:
- Guerrilla Zone – Interview with Co-Director Claudio Fragasso
- Michael Ransom Strikes Back – Interview with Actor Brent Huff
- Trailer

INVADERS OF THE LOST GOLD (1982) 

 Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English mono
Closed Captions: English SDH
Region: A/1

From producer Dick Randall – whose international trashterpieces include ESCAPE FROM WOMEN’S PRISON, THE WILD WILD WORLD OF JAYNE MANSFIELD and PIECES – comes perhaps the most notorious all-star Philippine productions of the ‘80s: In the last days of WWII, a Japanese platoon is attacked by headhunters while attempting to hide millions in gold. 36 years later, a grizzled guide (onetime Academy Award® nominee Stuart Whitman) is hired to lead an expedition – including Woody Strode (SPARTACUS), Harold ‘Oddjob’ Sakata and Laura ‘Emanuelle’ Gemser – into a jungle inferno of greed, violence, nudity and murder. Edmund Purdom (ABSURD) and Glynis Barber (DEMPSEY AND MAKEPEACE) co-star in this “delicious piece of atrocity cake” (Funxton) directed by Alan Birkenshaw (KILLER’S MOON) – also known as HORROR SAFARI – now scanned in 2K for the first time ever.

Special Features:
- Rumble In The Jungle – Interview with Director Alan Birkinshaw

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