SCREAM FACTORY PRESENTS… THE IT’S ALIVE TRILOGY FOR THE FIRST TIME ON BLU-RAY, WITH NEW BONUS FEATURES, ON MAY 15th, 2018

 IT’S ALIVE TRILOGY (1974-1978) 

Label: Scream Factory
Release Date: May 15th 2018
Rating: PG / R
Region Code: A
Duration: 91 / 91 / 95 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Larry Cohen
Cast: John P. Ryan, Sharon Farrell, Andrew Duggan, Guy Stockwell, James Dixon, Michael Ansara

For the first time on Blu-ray, and in a new, deluxe box set, the It’s Alive trilogy is reborn! On May 15, Scream Factory will release the It’s Alive Trilogy in a 3-disc set packed with bonus features, including new interviews, and new 2K scans of each film.

It's newborn and … It's Alive … and murder is what it knows best! A proud couple's bundle of joy is really a newborn terror in filmmaker Larry Cohen's cautionary cult hit that tapped into environmental fears. The horror grows when multiple child monsters rampage in the first sequel It Lives Again as two brave parents try to stop them by becoming the bait for their spree. The now global mutants are rounded up and relocated to a far-flung island in It's Alive III: Island of the Alive. Will a parent's greatest nightmare become the world's gravest fear? Find out ... if you dare.

It's Alive is the first film of the classic trilogy from writer/director Larry Cohen about murderous mutants – and its birth was chillingly midwived by the crucial contributions of two Academy Award® winners*: makeup master Rick Baker (who created the makeup and "played" the infant monster) and composer Bernard Herrmann.

Is it human? Is it a beast? Whatever it is, It Lives Again in this second film in cult filmmaker Larry Cohen’s Alive Trilogy. Once again, Cohen brings to the screen a hideous threesome of mutant baby monsters that are the evolutionary response to man’s polluted environment. These frightened creatures lash out with deadly claws at what they don’t understand. There are only three, but they could reproduce into uncontrollable millions if someone doesn’t destroy them. Fredric Forrest (Apocalypse Now) and Kathleen Lloyd (The Car) star as the loving parents of one of the monstrous creatures. Parental love, however, is no match for these hell-spawned mutants. Their wild blood binge must be stopped. Will the next stage of their evolution become our last?

In It’s Alive III: Island Of The Alive, Michael Moriarty (Q: The Winged Serpent) and Karen Black (Trilogy of Terror) star as Stephen and Ellen Jarvis, the distraught parents of one of the new mutant children. They’ve watched in horror as government death squads roamed the earth, shooting the humanoids on sight. They’ve suffered through the court hearings that sentenced their child and other surviving mutants to a remote, uninhabited island. And their nightmare continues … because the abandoned creatures are now grown … and they are coming back home to the society that created and rejected them. And no one who stands in their way will live.

IT’S ALIVE TRILOGY SPECIAL FEATURES

IT’S ALIVE (1974):
- NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
- NEW Cohen’s Alive: Looking Back at the It’s Alive Films featuring interviews with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, actors James Dixon, Michael Moriarty and Laurene Landon and more…
- NEW It’s Alive at the Nuart: The 40th Anniversary Screening with Larry Cohen
- Audio Commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen
- Radio Spots
- TV Spots
- Theatrical Trailer
- Still Gallery

IT LIVES AGAIN (1978):
- NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
- Audio Commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen
- Theatrical Trailer
- Still Gallery

IT’S ALIVE 3: ISLAND OF THE ALIVE (1987):
- NEW 2K scan of the original film elements
- NEW interview with Special Effects Makeup Designer Steve Neill
- Audio Commentary with writer/director Larry Cohen
- Trailer
- Still Gallery

FULL MOON HIGH (1981) (Scream Factory Blu-ray Review)

FULL MOON HIGH (1981) 

Label: Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: PG 
Duration: 93 Minutes 
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Stereo 2.0 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Larry Cohen 
Cast: Adam Arkin, Roz Kelly, Ed McMahon, Elizabeth Hartman, Bill Kirchenbauer, Joanne Nail, Demond Wilson, Louis Nye, Jim Bullock, James Dixon, Kenneth Mars

1950's teen high-school football player Tony Walker (Adam Arkin, Halloween H20) is dragged Transylvania on an ill-fated vacation by his father (Ed McMahon, The Tonight Show), while there a gypsy palm reader informs him that he is cursed to live an unnaturally long and ageless life, which turns out to be very true, later that same night he is attacked and nibbled on by a werewolf. Not quite realizing what has happened to himself he returns to the states and has a hard time adjusting to his new furry-lifestyle. The werewolf transformations in this one are real bad, and there's absolutely no gore - in fact there might not even be a drop of blood in this thing. The "attacks" come down to our teen werewolf chasing down women in the neighborhood and nibbling on them, not so much killing them as really inconveniencing them. One day his dad walks in on him while he's he transforming and puts a fright into him, his dad runs down to the family bomb shelter and locks himself in for safety, inside he discharges his weapon and the bullet ricochets comically for what feels life forever, eventually killing him, which happens off screen. All of a sudden were at his funeral, there's no good transition scenes in this whole film, everything is poorly stitched together with smash-cuts. After his father's death he leaves town and wanders the world for several decades, there's a cheesy montage with awful headlines like "werewolf eats Chinese, hungry half hour later". Spurred on by the fact that his hometown team has not beaten there rivals in the decades since he left town the night before the big game her returns to Full Moon High - that's the actual name of the school, signing up for classes and joining the football team hoping to finally beat the local rivals and somehow put his life back together. 

This is wacky one folks, the comedy is running wild, Cohen throws everything and the kitchen sink at the screen to see if it sticks - and a lot of it does not. It's loaded with cornball puns, spoof humor, some satire, the material is fun, whimsical and lighthearted, while there are no scares or thrills you just might find yourself howling at the lunar-lunacy of it all, or dying from how dumb it is, and boy oh boy is it dumb. Adam Arkin is so young and fresh-faced here, coming off as a young Jerry Seinfeld by way of David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London), a naive sort of fool who never seems to fully wrap his head around his affliction, it's a silly role but I thought he was charismatic and enjoyed how unembarrassed to just go for it.

The film is capably directed, though it feels slapdash at times, especially when the passing of decades is represented by an hour glass on a string being jigged across a darkened room along with series of presidential portraits being changed in accordance with the times, it definitely has a lo-fo charm about it. There's a ton of familiar faces here, we have Kenneth Mars from Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein as a very hands-on football coach turned high school Principal, Julius Harris from Cohen's Black Caesar shows up as a airplane hijacker, comedian Bob Saget appears as a sports reporter, and Jim J. Bullock shows up as the effeminate son of a character named Jane, played by Roz Kelly of New Year's Evil, a girl who lusted after Tony as a teen, and now as a mother still lusts after him when he returns to the neighborhood decades later. 

Audio/Video: Larry Cohen's Full Moon High (1981) arrives on Blu-ray from Scream Factory in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, this looks like it is sourced from a theatrical print, though one in great shape with really only some white speckling to note as far as blemishing goes, colors are robust, grain is well-managed, and the black levels and shadow detail are quite impressive.  The lone audio option is a DTS-HD MA mono track, it has limitations but sounds just fine with no distortion, there are no subtitle options.

Extras are slim but appreciated considering the former obscurity oif it, we get a 3-minute trailer in HD plus a brand new audio commentary from writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, moderated by King Cohen doc director  Steve Mitchell, and it's a keeper. Cohen is a master commentator, it's a warts and all commentary, pointing out the locations used, the cast of characters appearing on-screen, with some good moderation from  Mitchell who keeps the conversation focused and on-point.  

Special Features:
- NEW audio commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, Moderated by KING COHEN filmmaker Steve Mitchell
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min) HD

It's been a great year for Larry Cohen's films arriving on Blu-ray, from Black Caesar courtesy Olive Films to the It's Alive Trilogy and The Ambulance from Scream Factory, however this is a lesser entry among his filmography, it's a bad movie. 1981 was a banner year for werewolf movies, we had An American Werewolf in London, The Howling and Wolfen... classic stuff, and then there's Full Moon High, the worst of the bunch. If you enjoy bad, madcap monster movies this might be worth a watch, but if you're a gore-hound without a funny-bone this is one to avoid. 

THE LONG-LOST 1980S HORROR-COMEDY FULL MOON HIGH ON BLU-RAY™ APRIL 10th, 2018

FULL MOON HIGH (1981) 

Label; Scream Factory
Region Code: A
Rating: PG 
Duration: 93 Minutes 
Audio: English 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Larry Cohen 
Cast: Adam Arkin, Roz Kelly, Ed McMahon, Elizabeth Hartman, Bill Kirchenbauer, Joanne Nail, Demond Wilson, Louis Nye, Jim Bullock, James Dixon, Kenneth Mars

The ‘80s cult classic Full Moon High comes howling to Blu-ray on April 10, 2018, from Scream Factory. Bonus features include a NEW audio commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen (It’s Alive, Q: The Winged Serpent, God Told Me To), moderated by King Cohen filmmaker Steve Mitchell, as well as the theatrical trailer.

The problem of a typical high-school teenager takes on monstrous proportions in this comical send up of horror movies from legendary cult filmmaker Larry Cohen.

The most important thing to quarterback Tony Walker (Adam Arkin, Halloween H20) is to win the big game against archrival Simpson High. But this plan soon changes when his ultra-right-wing dad (Ed McMahon) drags him along on a spy mission for the CIA. In Romania, Tony is bitten by a werewolf – and that’s when things really start to get hairy! Now, whenever there’s a full moon, he transforms into a growling beast that hungrily chases down beautiful girls. Cursed to live forever as a teenager with uncontrollable urges, Tony realizes he must find a way to the end this cycle of animalistic excess.

Special Features:
- NEW audio commentary with writer/producer/director Larry Cohen, Moderated by KING COHEN filmmaker Steve Mitchell
- Theatrical Trailer