MCBASTARD'S MAUSOLEUM

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Spine-Tingling Tales of Terror 'Ghost Stories' (2018) available on Blu-ray and DVD September 4th, 2018 from Scream Factory

GHOST STORIES (2018)

Label: Scream Factory/IFC Midnight
Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 98 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: Andy Nyman
Cast: Andy Nyman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther, Martin Freeman

Experience three spine-tingling tales of terror to haunt your dreams! On September 4th, 2018, the delightfully devilish horror anthology film Ghost Stories will make its Blu-ray and DVD debut from Scream Factory, in conjunction with IFC Midnight. Fans of this critically acclaimed film can pre-order their copies now by visiting ShoutFactory.com

A debunker of all things paranormal, Professor Goodman (Andy Nyman, Black Death) has devoted his life to exposing phony psychics and fraudulent supernatural shenanigans. His skepticism is tested, however, when he receives a case file on three chilling and inexplicable incidents: a night watchman (Paul Whitehouse, Corpse Bride) haunted by disturbing visions as he patrols an abandoned asylum; an edgy young man (Alex Lawther, Freak Show) involved in a hellish car accident deep in the woods; and a wealthy former banker (Martin Freeman, Sherlock, Black Panther) visited by the spirit of his unborn child. Even more disturbing is that each of these macabre stories seems to have a sinister connection to Professor Goodman’s own life. Will they make a believer of him yet?

Monday, August 6, 2018

Fries Films Presents STARCHASER: The Legend of Orin (1985) – Now available for the first time in High Definition!

80's animated sci-fi fantasy Starchaser: The Legend of Orin is getting a Blu-ray upgrade! Keep in mind that this is not presented in 3-D, some promotional shots have a sticker advertising a lenticular 3-D cover, but the movie is 2-D

STARCHASER: THE LEGEND OF ORIN (1985)

Label: Fries Film Group

Release Date: October 9th 2018

Duration: 100 Minutes

Region Code: All

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)

Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles

Director: Steven Hahn

Cast: Joe Colligan, Carmen Argenziano, Noelle North

Deep within a subterranean Mine-World, a tribe of humans forced into a grim life of servitude by malevolent overlord Zygon knows nothing of the surface world or of hope... until a brave young boy named Orin discovers a sword with mysterious powers that only he can unlock! After escaping the Mine-World with his weapon, Orin teams with rogue smuggler Dagg, a beautiful princess and some trusty robots on an intergalactic mission to free his enslaved people and defeat the evil Zygon.

EUREKA PRESS RELEASE: MONKEY SHINES (Eureka Classics) Limited Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition - October 8TH 2018

Spellbinding & twisted thriller from the godfather of modern horror, George A. Romero

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MONKEY SHINES (1988)

Eureka Entertainment to release MONKEY SHINES, George A. Romero’s terrifyingly twisted thriller, on Blu-ray in the UK as part of the Eureka Classics range, in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition from October 8th 2018. Presented with a Limited Edition O Card slipcase [First print run only].

From writer / director George A. Romero, the man who unleashed Night of the Living Dead, comes a terrific psychological thriller that delivers a disturbing message about messing with Mother Nature. Starring Jason Beghe and Janine Turner, this riveting tale is a white-knuckle triumph that doesn't let up!

Allan Mann (Jason Beghe) is a bitter, angry and vengeful man ever since an accident left him paralysed from the neck down. He's fed up with himself and everyone around him. All that changes when he's given Ella, a monkey trained to meet his every need. But when Ella begins anticipating Allan's thoughts, strange and deadly things start happening. And as she stalks and wreaks havoc on Allan's fair-weather girlfriend (Janine Turner), incompetent doctor and meddling mother, Allan realises he must stop the cunning maniacal creature... before she fully takes over his mind!

Kate McNeil, Joyce Van Patten, Stephen Root, John Pankow and Stanley Tucci also star in this riveting thriller from the godfather of modern horror George A. Romero, presented on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition with an array of special features.

MONKEY SHINES (Eureka Classics) New & Exclusive Trailer https://youtu.be/TdPgJUK2Tkk

Available to order from:
Amazon https://amzn.to/2LOWrO8
Zavvi http://po.st/PxvMFC

BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

· Limited Edition O Card slipcase [First Print Run Only]
· 1080p presentation of the film on Blu-ray
· DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 audio options
· Optional English SDH subtitles
· New and exclusive feature length audio commentary by Travis Crawford
· Audio Commentary with director George A. Romero
· An Experiment in Fear – The Making of Monkey Shines - a lengthy retrospective with George A. Romero, stars Jason Beghe and Kate McNeil, executive producer Peter Grunwald, and special effects legends Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero and Everett Burrell.
· Alternate Ending and Deleted Scenes
· Behind-the-scenes footage, original EPK featurette, vintage interviews and news reports
· Trailers and TV spots
· PLUS: A limited edition collector’s booklet featuring a new essay by Craig Ian Mann; highlights from the film’s production notes: and rare archival material [First Print Run Only]

Saturday, August 4, 2018

FLORA (2017) (Mill Creek Blu-ray Review)

FLORA (2017)

Label: Mill Creek Entertainment

Region Code: A

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 99 Minutes

Audio: English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.00:1)

Director: Sasha Louis Vukovic

Cast: Teresa Marie Doran, Dan Lin, Sari Mercer, Caleb Noel, Miles G. Jackson, William Aaron

Indie eco-horror entry Flora (2017) is set in the summer 1929, we have a group of five university botanists students who enter an unexplored forest somewhere in North America to study and document the native flora there, they having arranged to meet-up with their university professor who has already set-up camp deep in the wilderness. The travel by canoe to the remote location only to discover the camp is abandoned and the professor is nowhere to be found, and strangely all the food rations and supplies have been burned in a fire pit. After settling in to the unsettling situation they discover that nature itself has turned against them, without spoiling too much I will say that a deadly organism has been unleashed, and it wants them all dead.

In the face of death of the five must use their wits and limited resources to find a way out; brainstorming, researching and occasionally arguing amongst themselves in the process. Our small cast includes lead botanist Basho (Dan Lin), illustrator Ora (Teresa Marie Doran), brothers Haviland (Caleb Noel) and Rudyard (Miles G. Jackson), nurse Avis (Sari Mercer)and navigator Charles (William Aaron), their various skills come in handy on this deadly excursion, but nothing can prepare them for what unexpected horror nature has wrought upon them.

I give some serious props to first-time director Sasha Louis Vukovic for going with a period horror film set in the 20's right out of the gate, what he was able to do with what was surely severely limited resources is pretty exceptional, a lo-fi slice of science fiction that pays off in the end with a largely satisfying tale of eco-terror that lays on the suspense with an intriguing idea that sort of answers the question 'what if M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening (2008) was actually sort of good?'.

Set deep in the Canadian wilderness the film is nicely shot with some gorgeous shots of pristine wilderness, aided by some cool-looking drone-assisted shots. I think that drones offer indie filmmakers shots they just weren't able to get a few years ago, but sometimes it's overused, drawing attention to itself, but this one not so much. The crisp "newness" of the digital cinematography sort of took me out of the story for the first few minutes until I got use to it, this is a film I think could have benefited from a 16mm film presentation, but that's easy for me to say from my vantage point as a reviewer, not a filmmaker. I have no idea how much more expensive that option might have been and what it entailed, but it's film and therefore probably lots more expensive. I'm sort of beating a dead-horse here but I like the retro-ish look of something like Ti West's The House of The Devil (2009) which was shot on 16mm film and has an older patina for it, for a period film I just think the visual aesthetic of the format would have added something.

The cast here is good, they're not not all uniformly great, but they made for a cohesive group that felt authentic, though there's a bit of amateurish overacting is small doses throughout, and some language that seemed anachronistic, but overall I think they worked great together. Everyone was able to convey the desperation, paranoia and fear the story required, and I found it easy to forgive the stuff that didn't work so much. Each of the characters has a little bit of development, though I would say that the character of Ora is the most developed (and charismatic), we get some of her back story in regard to how it was difficult to be taken seriously as a female botanist (remember this was set in the 20's), and the nurse character (who wanted to be a doc) is also given the same sort of back story, I appreciated it all, I liked that it touches on the politics of the time without hammering it home.

Alongside the good cast, the great locations and keen camerawork we have a rather good string score from composer Nathan Prillaman, it goes from atmospheric to rhythmically intense, and we have jazzy songs of the era, though for all I know these are were created by Prillman for the film, but they sound totally period specific, so if that's the case by hat if off yet again to you sir.

Now, looking at the horror we have a film that might not be immediately satisfying to the visceral horror crowd, as the terror largely unseen it's represented by a certain something I won't divulge, but there's no masked slasher, there are no hideous creatures stalking the woods, in fact there are no creatures stirring in these woods whatsoever due to the nature of the horror, but I dug it quite a bit. Vukovic and the crew do a good job of laying on the atmosphere and suspense, but at nearly 100-minutes in length it has a nice build to it, but does have some long-in-the-tooth moments that could have used a judicious hand in the editing bay, but when you're making your first film it's probably hard to cut apart your baby.

Separate from the film itself I would like to say the idea of distributor like Mill Creek Entertainment giving this a wide release is pretty cool, the label is most known for public domain, budget-minded TV shows and licensing some goodies from Sony among others, but taking a first-time director's film like this and making it available through all it's wide reaching resources, which includes Wal-Mart among other chain stores, it an interesting prospect. To think that you're film, small though it may be, would get that kind of distribution must be very appealing, I really hope they continue to take chances on indie filmmakers, this could be very interesting new facet to the label.

Audio/Video: Flora arrives on Blu-ray from Mill Creek Entertainment presented in 1080p HD framed in 2.00:1 widescreen, it's a lo-fi film but looks damn decent on Blu-ray all things considered, it has a nice warm palette and decent fine detail throughout, the darker scene also having some decent shadow detail. The only audio option on the disc is a well-balanced DTS-HD MA surround 5.1 option, it's well-balanced and clean, optional English subtitles are provided.

Extras for the film include an audio commentary with the director and cast, a behind-the-scenes featurette, deleted scenes, trailers and a digital copy of the film for Mill Creek's proprietary streaming service. The single disc release comes housed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase (not an eco-case) with a one-sided sleeve of artwork, the disc featuring an image from the film.

Special Features:

- Behind the Scenes Featurette (7 min)

- Trailer (2 min)
- Teaser Trailer (1 min)

- Deleted Scenes (6 min)

- Audio Commentary with Sasha Louis Vukovic, Teresa Marie Doran, and Dan Lin

Flora (2017) is an engaging and engrossing slice of eco-horror, it's not perfectly executed but it's one of those movies that shoots for the moon and while it may not land on the lunar surface it's orbiting it for sure! If you're into the recent time-loop The Endless I think you might find this to your liking even though it's not the same at all, I say check it out.

Thursday, August 2, 2018

THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES (1961) (Warner Archive Blu-ray Review)

THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES (1961)

Label: Warner Archive
Region: Region-FREE
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 128 Minutes
Audio: Enlgish DTS HD-Master Audio 2.0 Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Direector: Sergio Leone
Cast: Rory Calhoun, Lea Massari, Georges Marchal, Conrado San Martin, Conrado San Mï¿½rtin, Jorge Rigaud, Angel Aranda, Mabel Karr

Set in 280 BC The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) stars veteran cowboy actor Rory Calhoun as a Greek soldier named Darios who comes to the island of Rhodes to visit his beloved uncle Lissipu (George Rigaud, A Lizard in a Woman's Skin), where the tyrannical king Serse (Roberto Camardiel, Django Kill... If You Live, Shoot!) has just erected a 300-foot tall statue of the sun god Apollo to protect the city's harbor from invading forces, a wise move considering we discover not one, but two, secretive plots to overthrow the king's reign, with evil-forces within his own court conspiring against him.

Darios becomes infatuated with local beauty Diala (Lea Massari, L'avventura), the daughter of the statue's architect Carete (Félix Fernández), and also becomes privy to the various treacheries planned against the king, finding himself unwittingly entangled in the overthrow-shenanigans and imprisoned as a suspected spy. The sword and sandal story is full of melodrama and treachery with some good action towards the end, but it's overly long and Calhoun, whom I most remember from demented 80s slasher Motel Hell (1980), doesn't really suit the period, he's a bit too wry and self aware, which I didn't outright hate but it does draw attention to itself.

That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this one though, there are some cool set pieces and the locations and sets are elaborate and awesome, visually the film is very sumptuous as these films tend to be. The titular colossus is about three times the size of the actual statue of history, which is believed to have sat not over the entrance of the harbor as depicted, but on a hill overlooking it if memory serves. The film has it being constructed hollow like the Statue of liberty, a defensive weapon that is able to drop fire and burning oil on invading ships and and launch molten metal at it's enemies from a head that opens up like a blooming flower, it may not be factual but it's pretty damn cool looking on film, I love seeing Calhoun climb out it's ear and onto it's arms where he sword battles soldiers before diving into the harbor! Later earthquakes shake the city as a torrential storm beats down upon the it, the city is falling down around it's people while the overthrow transpires, the final leg of the film delivering the action-packed goods, but there's been way too much melodrama and filler in the preceding two hours to make this one of the better sword and sandal pics. Maybe not helping is that I also prefer my sword and sandal flicks with a bit more supernatural elements or some direct appearance from the Gods themselves.

The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) was the first fully credited directorial debut from Sergio Leone (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly), he had co-directed a few before but this scale sword and sandal epic was his first official film as a director, which is mighty impressive for a first-timer. The sets and location are epic and the action is damn decent when we finally get around to it. The film even has some of the framing devices Leone would be come to known for with his later (and better) western films, but this thing runs about a half-hour too long at 128-minutes, I know there's an even longer European cut, but for once I'm thankful for the a shorter version!

Audio/Video: The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) arrives on Blu-ray from Warner Archive in the 128-min U.S. cut of the film, sourced from a 2018 HD master and framed in 2.35:1 widescreen. The source looks good, the grain is a bit course throughout but colors look good and the black levels are decent. There's a good amount of detail that showcases the intricate craftsmanship of the elaborate sets and the enormous titular statue protecting the harbor of the city, this is an impressive HD upgrade that should please fans.

The lone audio option is a DTS-HD MA Mono track, it's clean and well-balanced, the Angelo Francesco Lavagnino (Gorgo) has some nice presence throughout, as does the destruction of the city towards the end, optional English subtitles are provided.

The only extra on the disc is an audio commentary by Sergio Leone biographer and film historian Christopher Frayling, it's loaded with content, the man knows his Leone films, but it is a bit professorially dry at times, but it's a good commentary, the delivery is just a bit on the dry side.

Special Features:
- Commentary by Film Historian Christopher Frayling

The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) is an entertaining, sun-bronzed sword and sandal entry, more notable for what the first time director went on to do than the actual film, but if you're a fan of these sort of films and can get beyond the startling site of Rory Calhoun in a short toga there's some fun to be had with it. This Blu-ray debut from Warner Archive is impressive with an upgraded A/V presentation that is sure to please the sword and sandal fans and the Sergio Leone completest out there.