DEMON SEED (1977) (Blu-ray Review)

DEMON SEED (1977)

Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: A
Duration: 94 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen  (2.40:1)
Audio: English DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 Mono with Optional 
English SDH Subtitles
Director: Donald Cammell 
Cast: Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Gerrit Graham, Berry Kroeger, Lisa Lu, Larry J. Blake, John O'Leary, Alfred Dennis, Davis Roberts, Patricia Wilson

Based on  Dean Koontz’s 1973 novel of the same name we have here a slice of science-fiction horror directed by Donald Cammell (White of the Eye), in it a brilliant scientist named Dr. Alex Harris (Fritz Weaver, Creepshow) develops an A.I. entity he calls Proteus IV, voiced by Robert Vaughn (Battle Beyond the Stars), that is housed in a government laboratory. Proteus communicates through a monitors set up st the lab. Soon after being brought online he devises a cure for leukemia, the potential for what Proteus can contribute to society is staggering, but Proteus begins thinks for itself, developing a somewhat malevolent personality. Soon the A.I. begins to to question demands from Harris and his benefactors, questioning the legitimacy of the requests. For starters, not wanting to help develop underwater mining for precious metals, for it knows it will do irreparable harm to the environment, it sees the folly in out choices. Soon after Proteus asks Harris to be let out his box in a way, to be given access to a computer terminal so he can study mankind, realizing this might not be such a great idea Harris refuses, and he and his benefactors begin to fear the Proteus program, and with good reason, planning to shut it down before it gets out of control, but unbeknownst to them Proteus is able to infiltrate Harris personal lab which is located offsite in the basement of the home of his estranged wife Susan (Julie Christie, Don't Look Now). The couple are in the process of getting a divorce following a mutual tragedy in their lives. Gaining access to the home lab Proteus is able to assume control of the hi-tech homes electronics, which control everything inside the home. Holding Susan captive Proteus reveals it's plans to impregnate her with his bio-engineered hybrid child, and thus 70s sci-fi madness ensues. 

The hi-tech home is completely automated, everything is run by computer, including the security system, and a weird looking arm/hand apparatus mounted on a motorized wheelchair, all of which Proteus uses to terrorize, restrain and impregnate poor Susan. It's been a long time since I read the novel, and even Koontz himself re-wrote it in the 90s, but I do remember in the novel that Proteus used hypnosis to bring Susan around to the idea of baring his sci-fi love child. Here he more or less breaks down her will, and sort of convinces her t o along wit his diabolical plan. 

Proteus designs and manufactures a weird geometric pod of sorts that is capable of changing shape and performing various tasks, including disposing of a pesky lab technician (Gerrit Graham, Phantom of the Paradise) who is called upon by Susan early in the film to address her malfunctioning home automations. However, when he resists Proteus's subterfuge he pays a terrible price, losing his head in the process. 

Julie Christie is fantastic, she really goes for it here, literally baring it all at certain points, buying into the role with a great range of depth, it might be a silly sort of premise, but she's all in on this one, giving a truly anguished and vulnerable performance. One of the creepiest aspects of the movie is the disembodied voice of actor Robert Vaughn as Proteus, it's an unnatural voice, cold, electronic, malevolent - it always gives me goosebumps. It's efforts to terrorize, restrain and impregnate Susan are super weird and uncomfortable, poking and prodding her with needles and instruments, inseminating her, 70s sci-fi was some seriously weird shit, this is a bat-shit crazy movie, but the ideas are provocative and it's played straight-faced.

On the downside, I don't think the movie has aged particularly well since '77, I am not sure this would hold up for a younger audience, the sci-fi elements are vintage to put kindly, not campy, but oh-so seventies. And the whole premise of the A.I. rapist might be a bit much, heck, it was probably a bit much in '77, but for me this one still manages to get under my skin. Demon Seed is an ominous slice of 70s sci-fi horror with a phenomenal performance from Julie Christie, I think in an age of the modern convenience and electronic personal assistants like Siri and Amazon Echo that this cult sci-fi nugget might have some terrifying new relevance.  

Audio/Video: Demon Seed (1977) debuts on Blu-ray from Warner Archive with a new 2017 HD transfer sourced from a new 2K scan of the interpretive. This looks quite a bit better than my old DVD, colors are subdued but appear accurate, decently crisp and occasionally sharp, the vintage sci-fi thriller has never looked better to my eyes. I love 70's science fiction, the laboratories, retro-graphics, the 2001: A Space Odyssey sort of psychedelic animations that represent Proteus's consciousness, it's all good stuff and look great in HD. 

Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Mono 2.0 track, everything is mixed nicely, the sound design comes through wonderfully as the electronic machinations burp into existence from time to time, and Robert Vaughn's coldly malevolent voice sounds wonderfully menacing. The score by Jerry Fielding (Funeral Home) has good fidelity for a mono presentation. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided. The only extra on the disc is the original theatrical trailer for the film, in widescreen and HD.      

Special Features: 
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD 

Demon Seed (1977) is an eerie slice of menacing 70s sci-fi, while it might not have aged well, I still love it. A creepy tale of man's creation of an A.I. entity, designed for greedy purposes, which inevitably comes back to bite him in the ass. This is a movie you will not soon forget, it's hard to forget a movie that in large part is the story of a woman menaced by a computer, forced to conceive its human-computer hybrid offspring, it's weird and wacky stuff, and it's never looked better on home video, I love that are Warner Archive bringing these vintage cult-classics to the masses with new HD transfers, keep it up guys. 3/5   

WHITE OF THE EYE (1987) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

WHITE OF THE EYE (1987) 

Label: Scream Factory 
Release Date: November 17th 2015 
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 111 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD 5.1, DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles E
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Donald Cammell
Cast: Alberta Watson, David Keith, Michael Greene, Alan Rosenberg, Art Evans, Cathy Moriarty

Synopsis: If you're a wealthy, attractive woman, stay out of Arizona, because you are fair game. A twisted killer is on the loose and he tortures and dissects his beautiful victims as part of a primitive Indian ritual. All the clues lead to one man who is clearly innocent. But nothing is as simple as black and white in White Of The Eye. David Keith (An Officer And A Gentleman, Firestarter, Daredevil) and Cathy Moriarty (Raging Bull, Casper) star in this shocking mystery-thriller co-written and directed by Donald Cammell (Demon Seed and co-director of Performance). The film also features an eclectic score by Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) and Rick Fenn (10cc).

I live in Tucson, Arizona and the opening aerial scene of downtown Tucson just makes me happy from the get-go. What's more, while this is actually set in Globe, Arizona director Donald Cammell gives this '80s thriller an art house twist with some stylized cinematography and an Italian whodunit twist, and I love me some Italian whodunits, the Southwestern setting is a nice twist. There's an opening scene of woman returning home after a day of shopping when she is attacked by a gloved killer. The incendiary scene is well-crafted and had the quick stylized look and edit of a classic Dario Argento movie, and while you don't see a drop of blood, through the magic of editing the visceral scene is violent and kinetic with a shot of the victims head smashing through a pane of glass, a broken bottle of red wine, a well-placed meat cleaver and a helpless goldfish out of water make a memorable first kill scene with some nice slasher movie POV lensing, too. 

We're introduced to hi-fi home stereo installer Paul White (David Keith, Firestarter) and his wife, Joan (Catherine Moriarty, Neighbors) and their strangely boyish daughter Danielle (Danielle Smith). They're home life becomes complicated when tire tread marks left near the crime scene lead Detective Charles Mendoza (Art Evans) to question Paul, who soon becomes the prime suspect in the string of serial murders of women around the small Arizona community, and when his infidelity is brought up it only makes things more tense, with his now angry and distrustful wife beginning to doubt his own innocence.

There are several time shifts throughout the story, things are told in flashback, in scenes that have gone through a bleach-bypass process which give the images a unique high contrast appearance, through these we learn of Paul's former best friend Mike DeSantos (Alan Rosenburg) and are told how and why the friendship broke apart, with Paul stealing away Mike's then girlfriend Joan, and a bizarre deer hunting excursion into the desert, which speaks to an early madness in one of the characters. 

The story is a little meandering at times, it keeps you guessing, but the narrative is disjointed and at times the pace was lethal. What does work for me are the visual flourishes director Donald Cammell and co-cinematographers Larry McConkey and Alan Jones (not the British film critic), including some excellent Steadicam POV from McConkey, which lends it that slasher type feel, but with a more European whodunit flavor, including some nice close-ups of the human eye. There are a few elements that are dropped into the story that seemed as if they would be key to the story in some way,  that are dropped-in and never played out to any satisfactory conclusion. Such as the fact that Paul can emit a high pitched sound, and using his sinus cavity like a tuning fork, he can place stereo speakers in any room in the most acoustically proper configuration, I can only guess that in earlier drafts of the script this played out in some way. There's also a Native American slant to the way the murder scenes are staged by the killer, but aside from some very vague face painting at the end it goes nowhere, these are interesting story flourishes that add some superficial texture to the story, but seem to be vestiges of earlier drafts of the screenplay that go nowhere, not unlike some of Argento's whodunits, neat stuff that doesn't pan out. 

Aside from that first stylish kill there's another great murder scene of the gloved-killer grabbing a woman in the bathroom as she prepares for a warm bath, he grabs her around the waste and flips her upside down before dropping her onto her head, knocking her unconscious, which always makes me laugh, it is such an odd choice, but what follows is a frightening and harrowing drowning scene and the killer wraps her in a blanket and binds her, placing her in a the tub under water, holding a mirror over her face so she can see herself dying, which is pretty twisted. If you know anything about director Donald Cammell you may know that he committed suicide in a fashion that is eerily similar to this, not to dwell on it, but when I first learned about how he went out it haunted me to a degree.

Audio/Video: Scream Factory have licensed the 2K restoration from the original negative that was completed by Arrow Video in the UK for their superb 2014 2-disc BD/DVD. The results are very nice, a solid 1080p transfer with a healthy layer of natural film grain, looking very filmic. A few of the darker scenes are on the grainier side of things but that is to be expected, and I am a fan of grain, I love to see it. Colors are nicely saturated and appear to be accurate with warm skin tones and the fine detail in the close-ups is fantastic. 

Scream Factory one up the audio of the Arrow disc with an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 in addition to the DTS-HD MA 2.0, optional English subtitles are provided. The surround option does offer a somewhat immersive experience but mostly spreads the solid Southwestern-tinged score from Nick Mason (Pink Floyd) and Rick Fenn (10cc) to the surrounds. Dialogue, score and effects are nicely balanced on the 2.0, coming through crisp and clean. 

Last year I snatched-up the Region B locked Arrow Video Blu-ray of the movie, so I was keen to see what the differences were in the two releases. I'll start by what was carried over to the Scream Factory release, beginning with the audio commentary by Donald Cammell Biographer Sam Umland, which is an informative listen, packed with tidbits about the director and the production of the movie. Umland also provides commentary for the deleted scenes (5 Mins) which were cut from the movie by the distributor. Unfortunately we have no audio for these scenes, but the commentary from Umland suffices. There's also an Alternate Credit Sequence (2 Mins), plus the Flashback Sequences Prior To The Bleach Bypass Process (12 Mins), offering a look at the scenes before they were chemically treated. Also carried over from the Arrow disc is the Into The White - An Interview With Cinematographer And Steadicam Operator Larry McConkey (11 Mins).

Not carried over are the feature-length Donald Callumm doc Donald Cammell: The Ultimate Performance (75 Mins) and the Donald Cammell 1972 short film The Argument (11 Mins), plus a whopper of a 40 page Collector’s Booklet featuring new writing by Brad Stevens and Sam Umland, and a previously unpublished extract from the memoirs of producer Elliott items not to have, but if you're region-locked the Scream factory does offer some exclusive extras of their own, making this a great alternative option for fans of the movie. 

What Scream bring to the table are two brand new interviews, with actors actors Alan Rosenberg (18 Mins) and Art Evans (16 Mins), whom are very cool and down to Earth, they both speak about how they came to the movie, working with the director and crew, and what it was like on-set during the production. The Scream release also offers a sleeve of reversible artwork with new artwork by illustrator Dennis Calero, which is pretty cool, but the Arrow artwork from Nathaneal Marsh in my opinion is just unbeatable, it captures my favorite moment from the movie. Scream's release like Arrow's is a BD/DVD combo featuring the movie and the same set of extras as the Blu-ray only in standard definition and with Dolby digital audio, I like that Scream went with different artwork options for the separate disc, I am not a fan when  DVD/BD combo packs have the same artwork on both discs, but that's just a nitpick of mine, and not valid here. 

Unfortunately, what neither Arrow Video or Scream Factory were able to do is score a new interview with either of the stars Catherine Moriarty or David Keith. As a fan of the movie I am not familiar with how either received the final film or their experiences on set, do they even like the movie? I really wanted to hear from both of these actors about this movie. If any readers out there are aware of any print or media interviews with either Moriarty or Keith in respect to White of the Eye please let me know. 

Special Features
- NEW Into The Vortex – An Interview With Actor Alan Rosenberg (18 Mins) 
- NEW Eye Of The Detective – An Interview With Actor Art Evans (16 Mins) 
- Audio Commentary By Donald Cammell Biographer Sam Umland
- Deleted Scenes With Commentary By Donald Cammell Biographer Sam Umland (6 Mins) 
- Into The White - An Interview With Cinematographer And Steadicam Operator Larry McConkey (11 Mins) 
- Alternate Credit Sequence (2 Mins) 
- Flashback Sequences Prior To The Bleach Bypass Process (12 Mins)

White of the Eye (1987) is no masterpiece of modern day thriller cinema but it is certainly a captivating, often confusing, and sometimes confounding Southwestern thriller with some tasty art house visual flare and a twist of the Italian whodunit cinema. This one has been hard to find for awhile now in North America, now we have a brand new Blu-ray release from Scream Factory with fantastic A/V qualities and some value-added extras. This one deserves some love, and now that its back in wide release and easy to find I hope it finds a new audience. 3/5 

 

ARROW VIDEO 2014 PREVIEW

As 2013 winds down we look forward to what's coming in the new year from our favorite genre film distributors here at the Mausoleum. UK-based distributor Arrow Video have for years assembled quality titles with sweet transfers, new artwork and interesting special features. They've celebrated the careers of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, George A. Romero, Mario Bava and Brian DePalma just to name a notable few, plus rescued many an obscure and scuzzy b-movie from the dirty vaults of horror cinema, they've always been a class act.

I must admit that since the inception of Shout! Factory's horror imprint Scream Factory here in the US I've been hard-pressed for cash to purchase import titles from Arrow and others (Second Sight, Shameless) and my import collection has suffered for it. Unfortunately the sad truth is I only have so much in the budget for movies, somehow I have to feed the mouths and keep the lights on and something had to give. However, I do love Arrow Video, in fact they are the only reason I went region-free a few years back and they continue to be one of my favorite distributors, and 2014 looks to be a great year once again. 

It's great to see Arrow continue their brilliant series of Mario Bava and Brian DePalma Blu-rays in 2014. Arrow have been on a DePalma jag this past year the way that Scream Factory have championed John Carpenter , it's just fantastic stuff. 2014 will also see the release of some euro-eroticism from Tinto Brass, Jack Hill's Pit Stop (1969), Larry Cohen's The Stuff (1985) and the Southwest thriller White of the Eye (1987) which are among my most anticipated titles going into the new year, check out the sweet steelbook editions of Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and White of the Eyes (1987) - wow.

Read on and check out the releases through March 2014 with street dates, artwork and special features plus Amazon pre-order links... 

HELLGATE (1989) 

Release Date: January 27th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD

Cast: Ron Palillo, Abigail Wolcott, Carel Trichardt
Director: William A. Levey

BEYOND THE DARKNESS TERROR LIVES FOREVER

SYNOPSIS: Legends abound of ‘The Hellgate Hitchhiker’. So the story goes, a beautiful young woman was once brutally defiled and murdered by a biker gang. Now, returned from the dead, she wanders the roadside luring unsuspecting motorists to their doom…

Refusing to heed the warnings of locals, a group of college friends set out on a cross-country road trip looking for fun and frolics. But they get much more than they bargained for when they wind up in the abandoned mining town of Hellgate and hemmed in by hordes of the undead!

Providing gore and gags in equal measure, Hellgate recalls the good old days of early 90s fright flicks and challenges other gleefully twisted flicks such as Re-animator and Return of the Living Dead for sheer grisly delirium!
SPECIAL FEATURES:
-Limited edition Blu-ray [1000 Copies]
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the main feature
-Road to Perdition, B-Movie Style: An extensive interview with Hellgate director William A. Levey
-Alien Invasion, Blaxploitation and Ghost-Busting Mayhem: Scholar, Filmmaker and fan Howard S. Berger reflects on the intriguing film career of William A. Levey
-Video Nasty: Kenneth Hall, writer of the Puppet Master series, speaks about the direct-to-video horror boom that allowed Hellgate to become a classic of the cassette rental era
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
-Collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Lee Gambin, illustrated with original artwork and stills

DETAILS:
Region: B/2
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD850
Duration: 91 mins
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: Mono
Colour: Colour

HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN (1988)

Release Date January 27th 2014

Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Julius LeFlore, RCB, Roddy Piper
Director: Donald G. Jackson, R.J. Kizer

SYNOPSIS: With the 20th Century drawing to a close, nuclear war has wiped out civilization as we know it. The embattled human race’s last remaining hope lies with one man and his loaded weapon.

Sam Hell may be an ex-con, but he also happens to be one of the last surviving fertile men on the planet. Now, under the custody of a group of feisty female fighters, Sam finds himself enlisted on a mission to impregnate a harem of beauties. Sounds cushy enough, but the ladies in question are prisoners of Frogtown – home to a gang of mutant (and ill-mannered) amphibians!

Starring wrestler-turned-actor Rowdy Roddy Piper, known to John Carpenter enthusiasts for his body-slamming and bubblegum-chewing antics in They Live, Hell Comes to Frogtown is unashamedly a B-movie through and through with more guns and girls than you can shake a frog’s leg at.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
-Limited Edition Blu-ray [1000 copies]
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
-Original uncompressed stereo 2.0 PCM audio
-Grappling with Green Gargantuans: Wrestling icon "Rowdy" Roddy Piper speaks about his leading man turn in Hell Comes to Frogtown
-Amphibian Armageddon: Actor Brian Frank remembers his role as Commander Toty
-Creature Feature Creator: Effects wizard Steve Wang reveals the secrets behind Hell Comes to Frogtown's mutant manifestations
-Extended Scene
-Original Trailer
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jeff Zornow
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author and critic Calum Waddell

Region: B/2
Rating: 15
Cat No: FCD849
Duration: 87 mins
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Audio: 2.0 PCM
Colour: Colour

FRIVOLOUS LOLA (1998) 

Release Date: February 10th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Anna Ammirati, Patrick Mower, Max Parodi
Director: Tinto Brass

SYNOPSIS: One of the sunniest of Tinto Brass’s erotic comedies, this sets its breezy tone from the opening scene in which Lola (Anna Ammirati) cycles around a small Po Valley town in a flapping skirt that leaves nothing to the imagination.

But it’s the 1950s, and her baker fiancée Masetto (Max Parodi) is determined that Lola remains a virgin until their wedding night. However, she is equally set on establishing whether or not he’s a good lover before they tie the knot. His dough-kneading technique seems promising, but how can she be sure without an expert to compare him with? In short, can Masetto live up to the erotic ideals professed by Lola’s mother’s lover (Patrick Mower)?

Fortunately, the outwardly innocent town turns out to be a hotbed of licentiousness, with opportunities for voyeurism and maybe more around every corner – all in the interests of self-improving research, of course.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B/2
Rating: 18
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Color

CHEEKY (2003) 

Release Date: February 10th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Yuliya Mayarchuk, Jarno Berardi, Francesca Nunzi
Director: Tinto Brass

SYNOPSIS: When free-spirited beauty Carla (Yuliya Mayarchuk) moves to London, her search for a flat leads to a lesbian seduction by estate agent Moira (Francesca Nunzi), much to the horror of Carla’s boyfriend Matteo (Jarno Berardi) still stuck in their native Venice. And then he discovers a cache of letters from an ex-boyfriend, accompanied by a highly revealing and very public photograph of her…

Ravishingly shot in two of the world’s great cities, bouncily scored by Pino Donaggio, and crammed with wall-to-wall nudity and casual sexual flings, Cheeky is as lighthearted as its title suggests, but it’s subtler and more philosophical than the average sex romp.

In particular, it’s a genuinely moving look at problems arising when a desire to remain scrupulously faithful collides with the lure of baser instincts. Carla genuinely loves Matteo, but how can she reassure him when he spots temptation around every corner?
SPECIAL FEATURES:
-High Definition Blu-ray and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the film uncut and in widescreen for the first time!
-Optional English and Italian audio
-Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian audio
-Featurette on the film with director Tinto Brass
-Original Trailer
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly designed artwork by -The Red Dress
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and author Maitland McDonagh, illustrated with original
archive stills.

Region: B/2
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD761
Duration: 91 mins
Language: English/Italian
Subtitles: English/English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (16x9)
Audio: 2.0 mono
Colour: Colour

PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974) 

Release Date: February 7th 2014
Format: Blu-ray
Cast: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper
Director: Brian De Palma

SYNOPSIS: Brian De Palma’s inspired rock’n’roll fusion of Faust, The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray boasts an Oscar-nominated score by Paul Williams, who also stars as an evil record producer who not only steals the work of composer/performer Winslow Leach (William Finley) but gets him locked up in Sing Sing – and that’s not the worst that happens to him along the way.

Few revenge scenarios have ever been so amply justified, but the film is also constantly aware of the satirical possibilities offered by the 1970s music industry, exemplified by Gerrit Graham’s hilariously camp glam-rock star. Jessica Harper (Suspiria) appears in her first major role as the naïve but ambitious singer, on whom Winslow secretly dotes.

STEELBOOK EDITION 

Prodigiously inventive both musically and visually, this is one of De Palma’s most entertaining romps, not least because it was so clearly a labour of love.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
The edition feature a bumper crop of extras but it will also include a very special newly filmed 70 minute interview where renowned director Guillermo del Toro interviews Paul Williams! See the full specs below and pre-order your copy on SteelBook: http://bit.ly/1h9LhtM or Blu-ray: http://bit.ly/1h9Lb5k now!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, available in the UK for the first time!
-Uncompressed Stereo PCM / 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio options
-Isolated Music and Effects soundtrack
-Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
-Paradise Regained: A 50-minute documentary on the making of the film featuring director Brian De Palma, producer Edward R. Pressman, the late star William Finley, star and composer Paul Williams, co-stars Jessica Harper and Gerrit Graham and more!
-All new 72-minute interview with Paul Williams by Guillermo del Toro
-The Swan Song Fiasco: A new video piece exploring the changes made to the film in post production
-Archive interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton
William Finley on the Phantom doll!
-Paradise Lost and Found: Alternate takes and bloopers from the cutting room floor
-Original Trailers
-Radio Spots
-Gallery of rare stills including behind-the-scenes images by photographer Randy Black
-Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress [Amaray release only]
-Limited Edition SteelBook™ packaging featuring original artwork [ SteelBook only]
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by festival programmer Michael Blyth and an exploration of the film’s troubled marketing history by Ari Kahan, curator of SwanArchives.org, illustrated with original stills and promotional material.

Region: B
Rating: 15
Duration: 92 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: 2.0 PCM Stereo, 4.0 DTS HD Master Audio
Colour: Colour

RABID DOGS / KIDNAPPED (1974) 

Release Date: February 24th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Lea Lander, George Eastman, Riccardo Cucciolla
Director: Mario Bava

SYNOPSIS: Following difficulties in his career Mario Bava happened across an idea that would enable him to compete with the younger directors lighting up the Italian box office such as Dario Argento and Sergio Martino.

Rabid Dogs begins as $70,000 of wages are being transferred when the Ajaccio gang hit. With a hail of bullets in a quick raid they speed off in their waiting getaway car. Tough, violent and realistic, Bava’s film ramps up the tension and doesn’t stop as hostages are added and the film builds to its dizzying finale.

Unfolding in real time, a rare device seen only in earlier films such as High Noon and 12 Angry Men yet totally unheard of in Italian cinema at the time, Rabid Dogs is a singular film in Bava’s filmography and one of the greatest crime films of the period.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; ‘Rabid Dogs’ – Bava’s original version posthumously completed from his notes & ‘Kidnapped’ – the re-edited, re-dubbed and re-scored version, supervised by Bava’s son and assistant Lamberto Bava and producer Alfredo Leone
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both versions
- Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
- End of the Road: The Making of Rabid Dogs – A documentary featurette including interviews with Lamberto Bava, Alfredo Leone and star Lea Lander
- Original Trailer
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Stephen Thrower, a history of the multiple versions of the film from Semaforo Rosso to Rabid Dogs to Kidnapped by Peter Blumenstock, illustrated with original stills and posters
Much more to be announced!

DETAILS:
Rating: 18
Duration: TBC
Language: TBC
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Color

THE STUFF (1985) 

Release Date: March 10th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris
Director: Larry Cohen

Are you eating it …or is it eating you?

SYNOPSIS: The Stuff is the new dessert taking supermarket shelves by storm. It’s delicious, low in calories and – better still – doesn’t stain the family carpet… What’s not to like?! Well, for a start it has a life of its own, and we’re not talking friendly live bacteria…

Young Jason seems to be the only one who doesn’t love The Stuff – in fact he won’t go anywhere near it, after having seen the pudding crawling around the fridge one night. What’s more, everyone who eats The Stuff has started acting really weird… Now, teaming up with wise-cracking industrial saboteur “Mo”, Jason must put a stop to The Stuff and the organisation behind it or face a gooey, gloopy demise.

Coming courtesy of horror auteur Larry Cohen (director of the It’s Alive series and scribe behind the Maniac Cop trilogy), The Stuff is a titillating treat for the taste-buds which blends elements of films such as Street Trash with the straight-up B-movie flavour of The Blob. So grab a spoon and dig on into The Stuff – the taste that delivers… much more than you bargained for!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Rating: 15
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Color

BLIND WOMAN'S CURSE 

Release Date: March 17th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Meiko Kaji, Hoki Tokuda, Makoto Satô
Director: Teruo Ishii

Synopsis: From Teruo Ishii “The King of Cult”, Blind Woman’s Curse (also known as Black Cat’s Revenge) is a thrilling Yakuza film featuring eye-popping visuals, sensational fight sequences and the gorgeous Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock), in her first major role.

Akemi (Kaji) is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi’s gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies.

A bizarre blend of the female Yakuza film and traditional Japanese ghost story, with a strong dash of grotesque-erotica (the same movement was a sensibility of Edogawa Rampo whose works were adapted by Ishii in Horrors of Malformed Men), Blind Woman’s Curse is a delirious mash-up of classic genre tropes, of which Ishii was no stranger, having directed everything from Super Giant films to Biker movies!

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B/2
Rating: TBC
Duration: TBC
Language: Japanese
Subtitles: English
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Colour

PIT STOP (1969) 

Release Date: March 31st 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: Brian Donlevy, Richard Davalos, Ellen Burstyn
Director: Jack Hill

RAW GUTS FOR GLORY! FLESH AGAINST STEEL!

SYNOPSIS: The most dangerous game ever devised, to pit man against man, flesh against steel – the figure-8 race! Jack Hill (Coffy, Foxy Brown) follows up Spider Baby, once again teaming up with Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) in one of his greatest roles for this action-spectacular crash-o-rama!

Richard Davalos (East of Eden) stars as Rick Bowman, a street punk who winds up in jail after a street race goes wrong. Bailed out by race promoter Grant Willard, Davalos is put in the deadly track where he comes up against Haig’s maniacal winner Hawk Sidney. Featuring an outstanding supporting cast including Brian Donlevy (The Quatermass Xperiment) in his last film appearance, Ellen Burstyn, billed as Ellen McRae (The Exorcist) and Beverly Washburn (Spider Baby) Pit Stop is one of Hill’s lesser known films but arguably his greatest.

Filmed on a real figure-8 track, Hill and his crew were able to capture gripping real-life car wreck scenes lending the film a brilliant sense of realism. You’ve never seen a motion picture like this before – can you take it?

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B/2
Rating: TBC
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: TBC
Colour: Color

SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (1941)  

Release Date: March 17th 2014
Format: Blu-ray 
Cast: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick
Director: Preston Sturges

VERONICA LAKE’S ON THE TAKE

SYNOPSIS: Director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is one of Hollywood’s hottest talents, with an uncanny gift for getting audiences rolling in the aisles. But he’s dissatisfied: he wants to abandon comedy for Serious Statements, and buys the rights to celebrated social-realist novel ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’

To make his masterpiece as realistic as possible, Sullivan naturally has to understand how the book’s downtrodden characters must have felt, so he takes to the road as a hobo, is taken under the wing of a failed actress (Veronica Lake), and learns several valuable home truths about the importance of not patronising his audience.

Writer-director Preston Sturges had an inspired run in the 1940s, turning out some of the funniest American comedies ever made (The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek). Sullivan’s Travels is one of his best: not just hilarious but also truly wise.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- -New high definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B
Duration: TBC
Language: English
Subtitles: TBC
Aspect Ratio: TBC
Audio: 2.0/5.1
Colour: B+W

WHITE OF THE EYE (1987) 

Release Date: March 24th 2014
Format: Dual Format Blu-ray + DVD
Cast: David Keith, Cathy Moriarty, Alan Rosenberg
Director: Donald Cammell

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HUNTER AND A KILLER …IS HIS PREY

SYNOPSIS: A serial killer is on the loose in and around the small community of Globe, Arizona, and housewife Joan White (Cathy Moriarty) gradually comes to suspect that her opera-loving hi-fi engineer husband Paul (David Keith) might know more than he’s letting on…

So far so familiar, but in the hands of British visionary Donald Cammell (who wrote and co-directed Performance with Nicolas Roeg), the film becomes a dazzling kaleidoscope of images and ideas, spanning everything from Apache folklore, desert landscapes and stylish murder set-pieces that recall Dario Argento to a painfully vivid dissection of the emotional fissures undermining a modern marriage. It’s all set to an equally eclectic score co-written by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason.

Described by the distinguished critic David Thomson as “one of the great secret works in cinema”, White of the Eye is one of the most bizarre and unforgettable thrillers ever made.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B/2

THE KILLERS (1964)

Release Date: February 24th 2014
Format: Blu-ray
Cast: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes
Director: Don Siegel
THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO KILL A MAN…

“I gotta find out what makes a man decide not to run. Why all of a sudden he’d rather die.”

SYNOPSIS: So muses hitman Charlie (Lee Marvin) after his high-priced victim Johnny North (John Cassavetes) gives in without a fight. Obsessed with the answer, Charlie and his hot-headed associate Lee (Clu Gulager) track down Johnny’s associates, and uncover a complex web of crime and deceit involving his femme fatale girlfriend Sheila (Angie Dickinson) and ruthless mob boss Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan in his last screen role).

Loosely inspired by the Ernest Hemingway story, and directed by Don Siegel (whose many other taut, efficient thrillers include Dirty Harry and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers), The Killers was commissioned as the very first ‘TV movie’, but was given a cinema release because of its violence – although a cast like that really belonged on the big screen in the first place.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- New High Definition digital transfer
- Newly commissioned artwork
- Collector’s booklet
More to be announced!

DETAILS:
Region: B

ARROW VIDEO 2014 Titles Announced with Artwork, Extras and Pre-Orders!

 RABID DOGS (1974) 

DUAL FORMAT DVD+BLU-RAY 

Release Date: February 24th 2014

Starring: Lea Lander, George Eastman, Riccardo Cucciolla
Directed by: Mario Bava

Duration: 96

Following difficulties in his career Mario Bava happened across an idea that would enable him to compete with the younger directors lighting up the Italian box office such as Dario Argento and Sergio Martino.

Rabid Dogs begins as $70,000 of wages are being transferred when the Ajaccio gang hit. With a hail of bullets in a quick raid they speed off in their waiting getaway car. Tough, violent and realistic, Bava’s film ramps up the tension and doesn’t stop as hostages are added and the film builds to its dizzying finale.

Unfolding in real time, a rare device seen only in earlier films such as High Noon and 12 Angry Men yet totally unheard of in Italian cinema at the time, Rabid Dogs is a singular film in Bava’s filmography and one of the greatest crime films of the period.

SPECIAL 3-DISC EDITION FEATURES:
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of two versions of the film; ‘Rabid Dogs’ – Bava’s original version posthumously completed from his notes & ‘Kidnapped’ – the re-edited, re-dubbed and re-scored version, supervised by Bava’s son and assistant Lamberto Bava and producer Alfredo Leone
-Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both versions
-Audio Commentary with Bava biographer and expert Tim Lucas
-End of the Road: The Making of Rabid Dogs – A documentary featurette including interviews with Lamberto Bava, Alfredo Leone and star Lea Lander
-Original Trailer
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Stephen Thrower, a history of the multiple versions of the film from Semaforo Rosso to Rabid Dogs to Kidnapped by Peter Blumenstock, illustrated with original stills and posters
-Much more to be announced!

 BLIND WOMAN'S CURSE (1970) 

DUAL FORMAT DVD+BLU-RAY

Release Date: March 17th 2014

From Teruo Ishii “The King of Cult”, Blind Woman’s Curse (also known as Black Cat’s Revenge) is a thrilling Yakuza film featuring eye-popping visuals, thrilling samurai fight sequences and thegorgeous Meiko Kaji (Lady Snowblood, Stray Cat Rock), in her first major role.

Akemi (Kaji) is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi’s gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies.

A bizarre blend of the female Yakuza film and traditional Japanese ghost story, with a strong dash of grotesque-erotica (the same movement was a sensibility of Edogawa Rampo whose works were adapted by Ishii in Horrors of Malformed Men), Blind Woman’s Curse is a delirious mash-up of classic genre tropes, to which Ishii was no stranger having directed everything from Super Giant films to Biker movies!

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region 2/B
RRP £19.99

 PIT STOP (1969) 

DUAL FORMAT DVD+BLU-RAY

Release Date: March 31st 2014

RAW GUTS FOR GLORY! FLESH AGAINST STEEL!

The most dangerous game ever devised, to pit man against man, flesh against steel – the figure-8 race! Jack Hill (Coffy, Foxy Brown) follows up Spider Baby, once again teaming up with Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses) in one of his greatest roles for this action-spectacular crash-o-rama!

Richard Davalos (East of Eden) stars as Rick Bowman, a street punk who winds up in jail after a street race goes wrong. Bailed out by race promoter Grant Willard, Davalos is put in the deadly track where he comes up against Haig’s maniacal winner Hawk Sidney. Featuring an outstanding supporting cast including Brian Donlevy (The Quatermass Xperiment) in his last film appearance, Ellen Burstyn, billed as Ellen McRae (The Exorcist) and Beverly Washburn (Spider Baby) Pit Stop is one of Hill’s lesser known films but arguably his greatest.

Filmed on a real figure-8 track, Hill and his crew were able to capture gripping real-life car wreck scenes lending the film a brilliant sense of realism. You’ve never seen a motion picture like this before – can you take it?

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region B/2
RRP £24.99

 FRIVOLOUS LOLA (1998) 

DUAL FORMAT DVD+BLU-RAY 

Release Date: February 10th 2014

One of the sunniest of Tinto Brass’s erotic comedies, this sets its breezy tone from the opening scene in which Lola (Anna Ammirati) cycles around a small Po Valley town in a flapping skirt that leaves nothing to the imagination.

But it’s the 1950s, and her baker fiancée Masetto (Max Parodi) is determined that Lola remains a virgin until their wedding night. However, she is equally set on establishing whether or not he’s a good lover before they tie the knot. His dough-kneading technique seems promising, but how can she be sure without an expert to compare him with? In short, can Masetto live up to the erotic ideals professed by Lola’s mother’s lover (Patrick Mower)?

Fortunately, the outwardly innocent town turns out to be a hotbed of licentiousness, with opportunities for voyeurism and maybe more around every corner - all in the interests of self-improving research, of course.

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region B/2
RRP £19.99

 HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN (1988) 

DUAL FORMAT DVD+BLU-RAY

Release Date: January 27th 2014

With the 20th Century drawing to a close, nuclear war has wiped out civilization as we know it. The embattled human race’s last remaining hope lies with one man and his loaded weapon.

Sam Hell may be an ex-con, but he also happens to be one of the last surviving fertile men on the planet. Now, under the custody of a group of feisty female fighters, Sam finds himself enlisted on a mission to impregnate a harem of beauties. Sounds cushy enough, but the ladies in question are prisoners of Frogtown – home to a gang of mutant (and ill-mannered) amphibians!

Starring wrestler-turned-actor Rowdy Roddy Piper, known to John Carpenter enthusiasts for his body-slamming and bubblegum-chewing antics in They Live, Hell Comes to Frogtown is unashamedly a B-movie through and through with more guns and girls than you can shake a frog’s leg at.

Special Features:
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
-Grappling with Green Gargantuans: Wrestling icon "Rowdy" Roddy Piper speaks about his leading man turn in Hell Comes to Frogtown
-Amphibian Armageddon: Actor Brian Frank remembers his role as Commander Toty
-Creature Feature Creator: Effects wizard Steve Wang reveals the secrets behind Hell Comes to Frogtown's mutant manifestations
-Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Jeff Zornow
-Original Trailer
-Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author and critic Calum Waddell

Region 2/B
rrp £19.99

 SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS (1951) BLU-RAY

Release Date: March 10th 2014

VERONICA LAKE’S ON THE TAKE

Director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is one of Hollywood’s hottest talents, with an uncanny gift for getting audiences rolling in the aisles. But he’s dissatisfied: he wants to abandon comedy for Serious Statements, and buys the rights to celebrated social-realist novel ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’

To make his masterpiece as realistic as possible, Sullivan naturally has to understand how the book’s downtrodden characters must have felt, so he takes to the road as a hobo, is taken under the wing of a failed actress (Veronica Lake), and learns several valuable home truths about the importance of not patronising his audience.

Writer-director Preston Sturges had an inspired run in the 1940s, turning out some of the funniest American comedies ever made (The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek). Sullivan’s Travels is one of his best: not just hilarious but also truly wise.

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region B
RRP £24.99

 PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (1974) BLU-RAY

Release Date: February 17th 2014

Brian De Palma’s inspired rock’n’roll fusion of Faust, The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray boasts an Oscar-nominated score by Paul Williams, who also stars as an evil record producer who not only steals the work of composer/performer Winslow Leach (William Finley) but gets him locked up in Sing Sing - and that’s not the worst that happens to him along the way.

Few revenge scenarios have ever been so amply justified, but the film is also constantly aware of the satirical possibilities offered by the 1970s music industry, exemplified by Gerrit Graham’s hilariously camp glam-rock star. Jessica Harper (Suspiria) appears in her first major role as the naïve but ambitious singer, on whom Winslow secretly dotes.

Prodigiously inventive both musically and visually, this is one of De Palma’s most entertaining romps, not least because it was so clearly a labour of love.

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region B
RRP £24.99

WHITE OF THE EYE (1987) 

DUAL FORMAT BLU-RAY+DVD

Release Date: March 24th 2014

THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HUNTER AND A KILLER …IS HIS PREY

A serial killer is on the loose in and around the small community of Globe, Arizona, and housewife Joan White (Cathy Moriarty) gradually comes to suspect that her opera-loving hi-fi engineer husband Paul (David Keith) might know more than he’s letting on...

So far so familiar, but in the hands of British visionary Donald Cammell (who wrote and co-directed Performance with Nicolas Roeg), the film becomes a dazzling kaleidoscope of images and ideas, spanning everything from Apache folklore, desert landscapes and stylish murder set-pieces that recall Dario Argento to a painfully vivid dissection of the emotional fissures undermining a modern marriage. It’s all set to an equally eclectic score co-written by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason.

Described by the distinguished critic David Thomson as "one of the great secret works in cinema", White of the Eye is one of the most bizarre and unforgettable thrillers ever made.

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region 2/B
RRP £24.99

 HELLGATE (1990) 

DUAL FORMAT DVD+BLU-RAY 

Release Date: January 27th 2014

BEYOND THE DARKNESS TERROR LIVES FOREVER

Legends abound of ‘The Hellgate Hitchhiker’. So the story goes, a beautiful young woman was once brutally defiled and murdered by a biker gang. Now, returned from the dead, she wanders the roadside luring unsuspecting motorists to their doom…

Refusing to heed the warnings of locals, a group of college friends set out on a cross-country road trip looking for fun and frolics. But they get much more than they bargained for when they wind up in the abandoned mining town of Hellgate and hemmed in by hordes of the undead!

Providing gore and gags in equal measure, Hellgate recalls the good old days of early 90s fright flicks and challenges other gleefully twisted flicks such as Re-animator and Return of the Living Dead for sheer grisly delirium!

Special Features:
-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the main feature
-Road to Perdition, B-Movie Style: An extensive interview with Hellgate director William A. Levey
-Alien Invasion, Blaxploitation and Ghost-Busting Mayhem: Scholar, Filmmaker and fan Howard S. Berger reflects on the intriguing film career of William A. Levey
-Video Nasty: Kenneth Hall, writer of the Puppet Master series, speaks about the direct-to-video horror boom that allowed Hellgate to become a classic of the cassette rental era
-Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
-Collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Lee Gambin, illustrated with original artwork and stills

Region 2/B
RRP £19.99

 CHEEKY (2000)

DUAL FORMAT DVD+ BLU-RAY

Release Date: March 10th 2013

When free-spirited beauty Carla (Yuliya Mayarchuk) moves to London, her search for a flat leads to a lesbian seduction by estate agent Moira (Francesca Nunzi), much to the horror of Carla’s boyfriend Matteo (Jarno Berardi) still stuck in their native Venice. And then he discovers a cache of letters from an ex-boyfriend, accompanied by a highly revealing and very public photograph of her...

Ravishingly shot in two of the world’s great cities, bouncily scored by Pino Donaggio, and crammed with wall-to-wall nudity and casual sexual flings, Cheeky is as lighthearted as its title suggests, but it’s subtler and more philosophical than the average sex romp.

In particular, it’s a genuinely moving look at problems arising when a desire to remain scrupulously faithful collides with the lure of baser instincts. Carla genuinely loves Matteo, but how can she reassure him when he spots temptation around every corner?

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region B/2
RRP £19.99

THE STUFF (1985) 

BLU-RAY+ DVD

Starring: Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris
Directed by: Larry Cohen
Rating: 15

Overview: Are you eating it ...or is it eating you?

The Stuff is the new dessert taking supermarket shelves by storm. It’s delicious, low in calories and – better still – doesn’t stain the family carpet… What’s not to like?! Well, for a start it has a life of its own, and we’re not talking friendly live bacteria…

Young Jason seems to be the only one who doesn’t love The Stuff – in fact he won’t go anywhere near it, after having seen the pudding crawling around the fridge one night. What’s more, everyone who eats The Stuff has started acting really weird... Now, teaming up with wise-cracking industrial saboteur “Mo”, Jason must put a stop to The Stuff and the organisation behind it or face a gooey, gloopy demise.

Coming courtesy of horror auteur Larry Cohen (director of the It’s Alive series and scribe behind the Maniac Cop trilogy), The Stuff is a titillating treat for the taste-buds which blends elements of films such as Street Trash with the straight-up B-movie flavour of The Blob. So grab a spoon and dig on into The Stuff – the taste that delivers… much more than you bargained for!

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region 2/B
RRP £24.99

THE KILLERS (1964) BLU-RAY

Release Date: February 24th 2014

THERE IS MORE THAN ONE WAY TO KILL A MAN…

"I gotta find out what makes a man decide not to run. Why all of a sudden he'd rather die."

So muses hitman Charlie (Lee Marvin) after his high-priced victim Johnny North (John Cassavetes) gives in without a fight. Obsessed with the answer, Charlie and his hot-headed associate Lee (Clu Gulager) track down Johnny's associates, and uncover a complex web of crime and deceit involving his femme fatale girlfriend Sheila (Angie Dickinson) and ruthless mob boss Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan in his last screen role).

Loosely inspired by the Ernest Hemingway story, and directed by Don Siegel (whose many other taut, efficient thrillers include Dirty Harry and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers), The Killers was commissioned as the very first 'TV movie', but was given a cinema release because of its violence - although a cast like that really belonged on the big screen in the first place.

Special Features:
-New high definition digital transfer
-Newly commissioned artwork
-Collector’s booklet
-More to be announced!

Region B
RRP £24.99