WILLIAM PETER BLATTY’S 'THE NINTH CONFIGURATION' On BD/DVD April 25th from SECOND SIGHT FILMS

THE NINTH CONFIGURATION (1980) 

Label: Second Sight Films 

Release Date: April 25th 2016

Rating: Cert: 15 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen ( 2.35:1)

Audio: LPCM Dual Mono

DUration: 118 Minutes

Director: William Peter Blatty 

Cast: Tom Atkins, Jason Miller, Richard Lynch, William Peter Blatty, Stephen Powers, Stacy Keach

From William Peter Blatty, renowned author of The Exorcist, comes one the most unique and extraordinary films on screen, The Ninth Configuration, a taut theological thriller from 1980, which makes its UK Blu-ray debut courtesy of Second Sight.

This mind-blowing cult classic arrives on Blu-ray and DVD, as well as download and on-demand on 25 April 2016, complete with a whole host of newly produced bonus features, including brand new interviews with William Peter Blatty, Stacy Keach and many more.

Deep in a forest of pine trees near the coast of Washington State stands a secluded gothic castle, commandeered by the Pentagon for use as a military asylum. Determined to establish the true nature and origin of the men's mental illness, the Pentagon enlists the services of Colonel Kane (Stacy Keach – American History X), a brilliant, yet strangely unorthodox psychiatrist.

With a reserved calm he indulges the inmates’ delusions, allowing them free rein to express their fantasies. But some are wary of the newcomer and his methods. There may be more to Kane than meets the eye and the insanity escalates towards an explosive revelation.

Written, directed and produced by William Peter Blatty this tense and gripping tale mixes theology and psychology and hosts a stellar cast including Scott Wilson (The Last Samurai), Jason Miller (The Exorcist), Ed Flanders (The Exorcist III) and Tom Atkins (Lethal Weapon). Who is Kane? And what has is he hiding?

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Audio Commentary by Writer / Director William Peter Blatty
- The Writer/Producer/Director - Interview With William Peter Blatty
- Confessions of Kane - Interview With Actor Stacy Keach
- The Debrief Of Sgt. Christian - Interview With Actor Stephen Powers
- Designing The Configuration - Interviews With Production Designer William Malley
and Art Director J. Dennis Washington
- Killer On My Mind - Interview With Soundtrack Composer Barry De Vorzon
- The Party Behind The Curtain - Interviews With Actors Tom Atkins, Jason Miller,
Richard Lynch and William Peter Blatty
- Mark Kermode Introduction
- Deleted Scenes and Outtakes

THE AMERICAN HORROR PROJECT ON DUAL FORMAT BD/DVD - FEBRUARY 23rd 2016

THE AMERICAN HORROR PROJECT 

ON DUAL FORMAT BD/DVD - FEBRUARY 23rd 2016

Arrow Video is pleased to announce the American Horror Project, a new series of box-sets which sees a variety of rarely seen and long-forgotten cult horror films being restored and returned from obscurity and risk of being lost forever due to fragility of original film material. American Horror Project will ensure that these unique slices of the American Nightmare are brought back into the public consciousness and preserved for all to enjoy in brand new High Definition transfers from the best surviving elements.

The first volume of the series will be released Feb 23rd2016, with Arrow Video committed to bringing these lesser-known efforts of US genre cinema back into the limelight where they belong. The set will be limited to a run of only 3000 copies.

American Horror Project is a story of the unsung heroes of American horror cinema – films from the USA’s golden age of terror which, for a multitude reasons, have either slipped through the cracks or never gained the recognition they so richly deserve. Films that aren’t mentioned by movie fans in the same hushed tones of reverence as The Exorcist or Halloween – but are every bit as bold, bloody and bizarre as their more famous counterparts.

Synopsis: Everyone knows the classic American horror titles: Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and A Nightmare on Elm Street, to name but a few. But we want to tell you a different story: a story of the unsung heroes of stars-and-stripes terror, films that have remained on the fringes of the genre either through lack of availability or else sheer obscurity. This is where American Horror Project comes in.

Volume One of this series presents three tales of violence and madness from the 1970s. Malatesta's Carnival of Blood (Christopher Speeth, 1973) sees a family arrive at a creepy, dilapidated fairground in search of their missing son, only to find themselves at the mercy of the cannibalistic ghouls lurking beneath the park. Meanwhile, The Witch Who Came from the Sea (Matt Cimber, 1976), stars Millie Perkins (The Diary of Anne Frank) as a young woman whose bizarre and violent fantasies start to bleed into reality - literally. Lastly, every parent's worst nightmare comes true in The Premonition (Robert Allen Schnitzer, 1976), a tale of psychic terror in which five-year-old Janie is snatched away by a strange woman claiming to be her long-lost mother.

Newly remastered from the best surviving elements and contextualised with brand new supplementary material, American Horror Project proudly presents an alternative history of American horror and film heritage.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
· Brand new 2K restorations of the three features
· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard DVD presentations
· Original Mono 1.0 audio (Uncompressed PCM on the Blu-rays)
· English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
· Reversible sleeves for each film featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil
· American Horror Project Journal Volume One - Limited edition 60-page booklet featuring new articles on the films from writers Stephen Thrower(Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents), Kim Newman (Nightmare Movies), Kier-La Janisse (House of Psychotic Women) and Brian Albright (Regional Horror Films, 1958-1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews)

MALATESTA'S CARNIVAL OF BLOOD
· Introduction to the film by Stephen Thrower
· Audio Commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith
· The Secrets of Malatesta - an interview with director Christopher Speeth
· Crimson Speak - an interview with writer Werner Liepolt
· Malatesta's Underground - art directors Richard Stange and Alan Johnson discuss the weird, mysterious world of Malatesta's underground
· Outtakes
· Draft script (BD/DVD-ROM content)
· Stills gallery

THE WITCH WHO CAME FROM THE SEA

· Introduction to the film by Stephen Thrower
· Audio commentary with director-producer Matt Cimber, actress Millie Perkins and director of photography Dean Cundey
· Tides and Nightmares - brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with Cimber, Perkins, Cundey and actor John Goff
· A Maiden's Voyage - archive featurette comprising interviews with Cimber, Perkins and Cundey
· Lost at Sea - director Cimber reflects on his notorious cult classic

THE PREMONITION

· Introduction to the film by Stephen Thrower
· Isolated score
· Audio commentary with director-producer Robert Allen Schnitzer
· Pictures from a Premonition - brand new making-of documentary featuring interviews with Schnitzer, composer Henry Mollicone and cinematographer Victor Milt
· Archive interviews with Robert Allen Schnitzer and star Richard Lynch
· Three Robert Allen Schnitzer short films: 'Vernal Equinox', 'Terminal Point' and 'A

Rumbling in the Land'
· 4 Peace Spots
· Trailers and TV Spots

DETAILS:
Region: Free
Rating: 18
Cat No: FCD1207
Duration: 251 mins
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1/2.35:1
Audio: Mono
Discs: 6

GOD TOLD ME TO (1976)

GOD TOLD ME TO (1976) 

Label: Blue Underground

Release Date: February 24th, 2015
Duration: 90 Minutes 

Region Code: Region-FREE

Audio: English 7.1 DTS-HD; 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX; DTS-HD Mono with Optional
English SDH, French, Spanish Subtitles
Video: HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Larry Cohen 

Cast: Tony Lo Bianco, Sandy Dennis, Deborah Raffin, Sylvia Sidney, Richard Lynch, Andy Kaufman

A sniper perched atop a water tower guns down fourteen pedestrians on the streets of New York City. Detective Peter Nicholas (Tony Lo Bianco) is on scene and risks his life to climb to the top of the tower in an effort to talk the sniper down. When asked why he would do what he has done the sniper calmly says "God told me to" before leaping to his death. Detective Nicholas is next on the scene shortly after a father kills his family, and again when one of NYPD's own goes on a killing spree during a parade. Of note, the murderous  officer have no clear motive and the perpetrators are good, honest people with no reason to have committed such acts of violence, when asked why they did what they did each reply that they were compelled to do so by God. 

The Detective is devout Catholic and deeply unsettled by these acts of murder in the name of God.  He sets off in search of answers which lead him to a mysterious figure named Bernard Philips (Richard Lynch), a long-haired messianic cult leader conceived from a virgin birth and who just might be the spawn of alien insemination. His scenes are bathed in gold light and his robes seem to glow, he definitely has an otherworldly quality about him. 

It's certainly a strange movie but damn entertaining watch straight from the start when the sniper starts knocking off pedestrians, and it rarely lets up from there. Once this one sinks it's teeth into you it does not let go, no matter how damn weird it gets. The murder spree at the parade is another great scenario, plenty of onscreen violence to keep the blood flowing and an equal amount of intrigue to keep the mind occupied. I found it quite chilling when the Detective questions the father who just moments earlier murdered his wife and young children with a shotgun, the guy seems so at peace with what he has done. 

Tony Lo Bianco is fine as the detective, he certainly anchors the film with his resolute pursuit of the truth, but watch out for appearances from Sylvia Sidney from MARS ATTACKS as an alien rape victim and Mike Kellin, the shady camp director from SLEEPAWAY CAMP. Plus we have the awesome Richard Lynch as the androgynous alien messiah with a vagina is a weird place. 

GOD TOLD ME TO is quite an ambitious slice of b-movie making and even more so when we realize just what the fuck is actually happening, just what is this alien messiah up to? When all is reveled it's pretty laughable but also a tiny bit genius. Larry Cohen's sense of humor and social commentary is intact and it makes for quite an entertaining watch right up till the quirky end, no one made 'em quite like Larry Cohen did, before or after, wish the guy was still cranking out films and stealing shots on the streets of New York, the world would be a better place for it. 

There are some fun special effect shots in the film too, not the least of which is Richard Lynch's vagina, but also a great science fiction flashback scene as Sylvia Sidney recounts her character's alien abduction to the Detective. It's a small scene but touching scene and the low budget effects are full of b-movie awesomeness. 

Blu-ray: The brand-new 4K High Definition transfer from the original uncensored negative looks fantastic with a consistent layer of film grain that looks very natural. Colors are vivid, the brightness is pleasing and the black levels look fine. There are three audio options,  7.1 DTS-HD; 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX, and for the purists the DTS-HD Mono. I was surprised how effective the 7.1 turned out to be, this is a dialogue front-loaded film but there are a few scenes where they made the most of the surround, notably the sniper and parade sequences. There are options for English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles available. 

Extras kick-off with the audio commentary from the 2003 DVD featuring director Larry Cohen and Blue Underground's William Lustig, Cohen is a great commentator and is never one to run short of words which make for an informative and entertaining commentary. Onto the new stuff we have three new featurettes produced by Red Shirt Pictures beginning with an 11-minute interview with star Tony Lo Bianco who reminisces about getting the role and Cohen's penchant for stealing shots around New York City and a disagreement he had with the director over a rubber vagina. The interview with Special Effects Artist Steve Neill is pretty cool as he sits in front of a large scale model of the S.S. Enterprise with working lights, very cool. He speaks about meeting Larry Cohen through Rick Baker who had worked on IT'S ALIVE for the director. Neill would go onto to begin working with Cohen on this film and subsequently on THE STUFF, Q THE WINGED SERPENT and A RETURN TO SALEM'S LOT before they drifted apart as Neill's plate became more full with other work. He notes that while Cohen can be difficult to work for he always paid on time, and he would love to collaborate with him again at some point. 

There are also two Q+A sessions recorded before screenings of the film, one from a recent showing at the New Beverly in L.A. and an older one from the Lincoln Center in NYC back in 2002. Cohen is his usual talkative self with loads of great anecdotes about making the film, including the fact that Robert Forster (ALLIGATOR) was fired from the lead role when he would not stop chewing gum in character! Additionally there are theatrical trailers, TV spots and a poster and still gallery including marketing materials under the alternate title of DEMON!

About the only thing I don't love about this film is the original theatrical poster art used for the Blu-ray release, but even that is better than the silly bullet hole riddled bible from the 2003 DVD. 

Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer/Director Larry Cohen
- Heaven and Hell On Earth - Interview with Star Tony Lo Bianco (11 Minutes)
- Bloody Good Times - Interview with Special Effects Artist Steve Neill (9 Minutes)
- God Told Me To Bone - New Beverly Q+A with Larry Cohen (21 Minutes)
- Lincoln Center Q+A with Larry Cohen (8 Minutes)
- Theatrical Trailers (2 Minutes)
- TV Spots (4 Minutes)
- Poster and Still Gallery (44 Images) 

Verdict: GOD TOLD ME TO is sort of the ultimate drive-in film, a mondo combo of police procedural and screwy science fiction horror feature with a decent amount of blasphemy blended together into a b-movie mixture as only Larry Cohen could have gotten away with. The new HD transfer from Blue Underground is top notch and the extras are a wonderful value-add, this is an easy high recommend for b-movie and drive-in horror fans.  

Blu-ray Review: PUPPET MASTER III: TOULON'S REVENGE (1991)

PUPPET MASTER III: TOULON'S REVENGE (1991)

Label: Full Moon Features
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 86 Minutes
Video: 16x9 Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1
Director: David DeCoteau
Cast: Guy Rolfe, Ian Abercrombie, Sarah Douglas, Walter Gotel, Kristopher Logan, Matthew Faison, Aaron Eisenberg, Richard Lynch
Tagline: When good puppets go bad.

Synopsis: After learning that Andre Toulon's puppets have no strings and seem to have a life of their own, Dr. Hess, a WWII Gestapo henchman, sends his officers to kidnap them. During the melee, Toulon's wife Elsa is killed, but the puppets fight back and escape with their leader. Toulon creates a new puppet, Six Shooter, models Blade after a pasty-faced Nazi and uses Elsa's essence to create Leech Woman. The army is ready. Body part by body part, revenge will be theirs…

Flm: The third installment of the Puppet Master franchise is a period-piece, a prequel taking place three years after the start of Puppet Master ...huh? Whatever. The year is 1941 in Berlin during WW2. Dr. Hess (Ian Abercrombie, Army of Darkness) is a Nazi scientist in the service of the Third Reich. He's been tasked to create a serum that will create an army of undead zombie soldiers. He's had a modicum of success but the serum is too unstable and in an early scene we see a corpse jump off the operating table Re-Animator style and wreak havoc. Hess is overseen my Major Kraus (Richard Lynch, Bad Dreams) from the Gestapo. Kraus's driver Lt. Stein (Kristopher Logan, The Rocketeer) is an amateur puppeteer and attends a puppet show for children presented by Andre Toulon and his wife Elsa (Sarah Douglass, Superman 2). During the puppet show a marionette of Adolf Hitler is fired upon by a new puppet called Six Shooter, modeled after the American gunslingers. He's got six arms and six guns, it's a great character design and he has a great Jack Nicholson laugh that I just love. The Lt. who sounds a lot like Marvin the Martian sneaks around after the show and witness the puppets being fed their serum by Toulon and that they seem to be alive, unassisted by strings. When he reports this to Krauss and Hess the next day Kraus immediately takes an SS squad to Toulon's residence to arrest the puppeteer for treasonous acts. Hess convinces Kraus that he must speak with Toulon to gain his secrets of reanimation. Kraus agrees but then kills Toulon's wife Elsa after she spits in his face in defiance. As Toulon is being transported away the two soldiers guarding him are killed by Tunneler and Pinhead allowing him to escape and plot his revenge. It's a great shot when Tunneler drills his way through the back of the driver's seat and through his chest, quite bloody. 

This film has a lot going for it. Setting it during WW2 in Berlin is a good choice and it's a great backdrop for the film with some excellent sets and dressings. The acting is superb from the key players. Richard Lynch (Bad Dreams, Laid to Rest) as the despicable Major Kraus is inspired, he's a wicked villain. Ian Abercrombie as the Nazi scientist Hess is also great casting. You get the feeling he's being forced into working for the Reich and he seems genuinely amazed by the work of Toulon, in fact, he redeems himself towards the end of the film. You may recall Abercrombie as Mr. Pitt, Elaine's boss from the TV 's Seinfeld. Then there is Guy Rolfe (Dolls, Mr. Sardonicus) as Andre Toulon, easily the best Toulon I've seen so far in the series, no disrespect to the venerable and beloved William Hickey from the first entry. Also noteworthy is the appearance of Walter Gotell as the Nazi General Mueller who played "General Gogol" in several 007 entries, his character loves frequenting Nazi whores and his scene in a tub being bathed by topless Nazi tramps is just wonderful. 

There's very little I did not enjoy here. The setting, the acting, the special effects - all great stuff. Highlight for me include the origins of Blade and Ms. Leech and the rest of the puppets, great stuff. Let's not forget the awesome introduction of Six Shooter and that we find out why the Nazi's are pursuing Toulon at the start of the first film. A goof of sorts would be the inclusion of Jester in the film whom we saw Toulon create in the first film which the ending of this entry more or less sets up.

Blu-ray: While previous Puppet Master III VHS and DVD editions did not suffer quite as much as earlier Puppet Master II releases they were not great either; cropped images that were dark, murky and standard-definition with artifacting. Much like the new Puppet Master II Blu-ray the film is presented in it's original anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio with an MPEG-4 encoded image transferred from the original negative and remastered in high-definition with all new color timing and color correction. The results are revealing, like seeing the film for the first time. I've seen this film several times in it's many VHS and DVD incarnations and it's always been the same fullframe standard-definition transfer, cropped, soft, murky and lacking any fine detail. What we get with this Blu-ray release is a pleasingly crisp anamorphic presentation with a pleasant amount of natural grain left intact, with that though we also get a fair amount of digital noise but overall this is quite wonderful stomps previous SD transfers with vivid saturated colors, natural skin tones, decent black an acceptable amount of fine detail.

On the audio front we get a newly created 5.1 sound surround mix but it's Dolby Digital and not lossless audio. That said while it's not overly dynamic it is not lamented by the same compression issues and the dialogue, score and effects sound quite good. Still the lack of a lossless audio option is a disappointing oversight.

Some of the bonus content is mirrored from the Puppet Master II Blu-ray beginning with the  Introduction (2:35) from creator Charles Band filmed on the set of the forthcoming Puppet Master 10 in which the  auteur discusses the difficulty getting the early Full Moon films on Blu-ray and what's coming next in 1080p. There's the same Killer Puppet Montage (1:52),  a Rare Puppet Master Toy Promo (1:30) and same eight Full Moon trailers in HD widescreen. New content(sorta) is a vintage episode of Full Moon's video magazine VideoZone.

The center-piece of the bonus features is a newly recorded audio commentary with director David Decoteau and writer C. Courtney Joyner that's informative and entertaining - these guys are movie fiends and happily recollect their time on the Universal back lot and the classic film that were also brought to life there, it makes for some good listening. A lot of the commentary is scene specific and follows what's transpiring onscreen but they also veer off with fun production anecdotes, DeCoteau talks a bit about arguing with Charlie Band over the opening scene being a bit too graphic, remembering that Band is actually a bit squeamish, at least back in the day. The two also offer fond remembrances of Lynch, Abercrombie, Rolf, and Gotel all of whom have since shuffled off this mortal coil. They also discuss Lynch not being the first choice of actor to portray Kraus, originally the part was intended for Ralph Bates (Taste the Blood of Dracula)  but he died before production. They also discuss Lynch disfigurement which occurred during a 'Nam protest in Central Park during a "controlled" burn with rubbing alcohol but it got out of control, they also dismiss that the incident had stemmed from a drug-induced state which is what I had always been told. It's a good commentary and really adds to the enjoyment of the film, good stuff. 

Special Features: 

- Brand new Introduction by Puppet Master creator Charles Band (2:35)
- Brand new 2012 Audio Commentary by writer C. Courtney Joyner director David DeCoteau
- VideoZone (25:30) 14x3 
- Killer Puppet Master Montage (1:52) 4x3
-Rare Puppet Master Toy Promo (1:30) 4x3
-HD Full Moon trailers:
Puppet Master (1:38) 16x9
Castle Freak 2:15) 16x9
Zombies vs Strippers (1:19) 16x9
Demonic Toys 2 (1:15) 16x9
Evil Bong 3 (1:00) 16x9
Gingerdead Man 3 (1:02) 16x9
Killjoy's Revenge (1:39) 16x9
Puppet Master: Axis of Evil (2:06) 16x9 

Verdict: Of the the first three installments of the Puppet Master series Toulon's Revenge inches out Puppet Master as my favorite. The acting is just really superb from a seasoned cast. Guy Rolf's portrayal of Toulon is the best of the bunch, I cannot imagine anyone else capturing the essence of Andre Toulon the way he did here. Despite the films modest budget the WW2 era sets are well rendered and shooting on Universal's back lot didn't hurt either, the film definitely has a sense of time and place. The stop-motion effects are really good though I think they may have been a bit better in Puppet Master II which I would attribute to special effects wizard David Allen directing that film. Full Moon's new remastered high-definition transfer is great stuff, it's amazing to see this film in widescreen for the first and I am definitely looking forward to more Puppet Master entries as well as Stuart Gordon's Castle Freak and The Pit and the Pendulum in 1080p widescreen. 
4 Outta 5