By: Sean Brickley
Even though Halloween is now becoming a distant memory and everyone is preparing for the nest 6 weeks or so by making holiday travel preparations, rushing to the store to participate in the annual battle royale for this year’s version of Tickle Me Elmo, dreaming up New Year’s resolutions that they actually intend to stick to past January 3rd, or any other manner of activity which I personally loathe during this time of year, our friends in the movie industry have bestowed upon us this week 21 releases that are sure to ease all of the other Scrooge’s out there through this most deplorable of seasons. The two big hitters this week would probably come from the Argento/Bava camp: The DVD and Blu-ray releases of Demons and Demons 2. In addition to that, we have the Blu-ray release of Dolls. For all of you folks out there who like classics, we have 1945’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and from 1954, The Killer Shrews. Lastly, I’m not sure if this is a coincidence related to Thanksgiving or not, but there’s also a bunch of cannibal movies coming out this week as well. Pleasant viewing, fellow fiends.
MOVIES
The Cemetery (2013)
Starring:
Natalie Jean, J.D. Brown, Adam Huss, Tim Cronin, Draven Star
Synopsis:
A team of paranormal investigators must fight for their lives after accidentally releasing a demon from a forgotten cemetery.
Purchase:
DVD
The Damned (2014)
Starring:
Peter Facinelli, Sophia Myles, Nathalia Ramos, Carolina Guerra, Gustavo Angarita, Sebastian Martinez, Juan Pablo Gamboa, Tatiana Renteria
Synopsis:
The Damned tells the story of American David Reynolds (Peter Facinelli), widowed from his Colombian-born wife, who flies to Bogota with his new fiance (Sophia Myles) to retrieve his rebellious teenage daughter Jill (Nathalia Ramos). En route to the city of Medellin, a car accident leaves them stranded in a rundown isolated inn. When they discover the old innkeeper has locked a young girl in the basement, they are determined to set her free. In saving the young girl, they ultimately unleash an ancient evil that’s been waiting to wreak havoc on all that cross its path.
Purchase:
DVD
Blu-ray
Demons (1985)
Starring:
Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey, Geretta Geretta, Bobby Rhodes
Synopsis:
THEY WILL MAKE CEMETERIES THEIR CATHEDRALS, AND CITIES WILL BE YOUR TOMBS! From the minds of Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava comes the horrific Heavy Metal splatter film classic, Demons! Presented in a stunning new high-definition transfer and re-mastered audio!
A strange masked man offers tickets to a horror movie sneak preview at the mysterious Metropol cinema. When a patron is accidentally scratched by a prop displayed in the lobby, she transforms into a flesh-ripping demon! One by one, the audience members mutate into horrible creatures hell-bent on destroying the world. Can anyone escape this gory orgy of terror?
Features an amazing soundtrack of 80s rock/heavy metal by Billy Idol, Scorpions, Motley Crue, Accept, Saxon and MORE!
Special Features:
Newly Translated Optional English SDH Subtitles
Theatrical Trailer
Purchase:
DVD
Blu-ray
Demons 2 (1987)
Starring:
David Knight, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Bobby Rhodes, Asia Argento
Synopsis:
WATCHING TELEVISION CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH… AND BRING THE END OF THE WORLD! From the minds of Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava comes DEMONS 2, the sequel to the surprise horror hit, Demons! Presented in a stunning new high-definition transfer and re-mastered audio!
There’s a scary movie on television and the residents of a luxury high-rise building have their eyes glued to their sets. Unfortunately for a young birthday girl, an eternal demonic evil is released through her TV and partygoers soon find themselves fighting an army of murderous monsters! Acid blood, demonic dogs, possessed children and rampaging zombies wreak havoc for the trapped tenants! Starring Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni (Dario Argento’s Opera ), Bobby Rhodes (Demons), and a young Asia Argento in her very first film role, DEMONS 2 is a jaw-droppingly gory film from the golden age of Italian splatter films!
Features an amazing soundtrack of 80s rock/heavy metal by The Smiths, The Cult, Dead Can Dance, Art of Noise, Peter Murphy and MORE!
Special Features:
Newly Translated Optional English SDH Subtitles
Theatrical Trailer
Purchase:
DVD
Blu-ray
El Desierto (The Desert) (2014)
Starring:
Lautaro Delgado, William Prociuk, Victoria Almeida, Lucas Lagré
Synopsis:
Axel, Jonathan and Ana live together in a post-catastrophic world. Their whole dynamic changes when Axel and Jonathan go out on an expedition in search of provisions and return to the house with a zombie that they call Pythagoras.
Purchase:
DVD
Dolls (1987)
Starring:
Ian Patrick Williams, Carrie Lorraine, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Guy Rolfe, Hilary Mason, Bunty Bailey, Cassie Stuart, Stephen Lee
Synopsis:
London motorists seek shelter from a storm with an old couple who make killer dolls.
Purchase:
Blu-ray
Exhibit X (2012)
Starring:
April Starkweather
Synopsis:
After a party held in one of the most haunted houses in the country ends with 51 people dead, a camera containing footage from that night is delivered to investigators. The DVD features the restricted footage leaked by a jury member in one of the most infamous murder trials in U.S. history, the first of its kind to include paranormal evidence!
Purchase:
DVD
Forest of the Living Dead (2012)
Starring:
Michael Madsen, Johnny Young, Aidan Bristow
Synopsis:
Fashion photographer Jason West awakens from a nightmare in which his super-model girlfriend, Nichole, is savagely attacked by a supernatural creature. The nightmare begins to haunt his waking life when Nichole is found dead thousands of miles away, and more of Jasons friends start to be attacked in similar ways. So when he hears that his ex-fiance, Ariaana, had killed herself in the infamous Suicide Forest of Japan shortly before he had his nightmare, Jason realizes that the haunted forest has empowered Ariaanas tortured soul, allowing her to transcend death and wreak revenge upon Jason and his friends. To confront Ariaanas demonic spirit, Jason must face her in the realm where her power is unstoppable – within the depths of The Forest of the Living Dead.
Purchase:
DVD
Ghost and Demon Children of the Damned (2014)
Synopsis:
Ghosts and demons send chills up your spine, but there is something extra disturbing when they are children! Carved through the hillside, off a rural road in Niagara Falls, lies an abandoned underground passage known as ”The Screaming Tunnel.” Legend claims that years ago, an eight-year-old girl was burned alive inside this tunnel by her psychopathic father. Since that day, her ghost has appeared screaming whenever any brave souls venture inside the tunnel after dark and lights a match. The staff members of Ottawa’s historic Duford House museum have noticed some very unusual occurrences surrounding two antique dolls. Regardless of where these dolls are displayed they continually fall to the floor, or actually vanish for hours at a time, only to be found later in a different part of the house. Who is the young girl seen around these dolls, only to disappear as quickly as she comes? The Mathers House in Burnaby, British Columbia was once the home to Benedictine Monks, until it was purchased by a religious cult. Now a pottery studio, the artists have often seen the ghosts of children playing in various rooms. It is likely that these children were the ones that the cult leader abused and tortured during the years they lived there. This comprehensive collection of true-life paranormal stories features Canada’s Children of the Damned.
Purchase:
DVD
Gingerclown (2013)
Starring:
Ashley Lloyd, Erin Hayes, Tim Curry, Lance Henriksen, Michael Winslow, Brad Dourif, Sean Young, Michael Cannell-Griffiths
Synopsis:
To impress the football team – and the girl of his dreams – Sam dares to enter an old amusement park, but when Jenny follows him in, they quickly realize that theyll be lucky if they can get out alive.
Purchase:
DVD
The House at the End of Time (2103)
Starring:
Rosmel Bustamante
Synopsis:
Dulce is a mother who lives in an old house with her young children Leopoldo, Rodrigo and her husband Juan Jose. In this place she begins to experience terrifying encounters with mysterious apparitions in the dark. The ghost of an old woman leaves her a series of messages warning that her husband will kill her children. Dulce, desperate, tries its best to avoid this prophecy, however, a terrible tragedy is about to be unleashed. Dulce is sentenced to the maximum penalty of imprisonment for a crime she did not commit. Thirty years later, an elderly Dulce, returns home to continue her sentence in house arrest. There, with the help of a Priest, she will struggle to decipher and unravel the mystery that has tormented her for so long.
Purchase:
DVD
In The Land Of Cannibals (2004)
Starring:
Claudio Morales, Lou Randall, Cindy Jelic Matic
Synopsis:
The late Italian sleaze maestro Bruno Mattei, infamous director of HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD, CAGED WOMEN, RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR and SS EXTERMINATION LOVE CAMP, here under the name Martin Miller brazenly combines CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST and PREDATOR for a whole new level of green inferno perversion: When a team of hard-ass commandos venture deep into the Amazon jungle to rescue a senator’s hot daughter, they’ll trigger a bloodbath of flesh-stripping, gut-ripping, limb-hacking, stock footage and sexual brutality. Cindy Matic and Claudio Morales (MONDO CANNIBAL) star in this mind-boggling hybrid also known as LAND OF DEATH and released in Japan as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST 3: CANNIBAL VS. COMMANDO now presented uncut and uncensored for the first time ever in America!
Trailer:
Pre-order:
DVD
The Killer Shrews (1959)
Starring:
James Best, Ingrid Goude, Ken Curtis, Gorden McLendon
Synopsis:
A ship’s captain, Thorne Sherman (James Best), arrives at an isolated island inhabited by a scientist Dr. Marlow Craigis (Baruch Lumet), his daughter Ann (Ingrid Goude/Miss Sweden 1956) and his assistants (Ken Curtis/Gunsmoke, Gordon McLendon, and Alfred DeSoto). The group is trapped by a hurricane and takes refuge from the storm in the island house. At the same time, Dr. Craigis is working to reduce humans to half size in an effort to help prevent over population and its demand on natural resources. The side effect of this ill-fated experiment is the creation of giant, voracious and poisonous shrews. Barricaded in the house, the group is now surrounded by these beasts that eat 2-3 times their body weight each day and are quickly running out of food. As things progress, the shrews predictably attack the ship s crew and, finally, the group themselves, resulting in mayhem, death and destruction.
Purchase:
DVD
Mondo Cannibal (2004)
Starring:
Helena Wagner, Claudio Morales, Cindy Jelic Matic
Synopsis:
You may think you’ve witnessed the most extreme examples of the Italian cannibal genre, but leave it to late Italian sleaze master Bruno Mattei notorious director of HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD, RATS: NIGHT OF TERROR, SS GIRLS and CALIGULA’S PERVERSIONS to lower the bar to depraved new heights. In this shameless rip-off of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, Mattei (under the name Vincent Dawn) unleashes the sleazy saga of a ratings-hungry American TV crew whose Amazon jungle report becomes a nightmare of gut munching, brain-scarfing, sexual atrocities, insane moralizing and much more. Claudio Morales and Cindy Matic (IN THE LAND OF THE CANNIBALS) star in this jaw-dropper also known as CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST: THE BEGINNING now presented uncut and uncensored for the first time ever in America!
Trailer:
Pre-order:
DVD
Nothing Left (2012)
Starring:
Matthew Silver
Synopsis:
After Luke s wife finds out that he is having an affair, he tries to save his marriage by taking the family on a camping trip but soon Luke and his family become the hunted! In the vein of The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Purchase:
DVD
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Starring:
George Sanders, Hurd Hatfield, Angela Lansbury, Donna Reed, Peter Lawford
Synopsis:
Oscar and Golden Globe-winning adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic story about a mysterious young man whose painted portrait ages through the years while he remains young. Starring Oscar-winner George Sanders (All About Eve), multiple Oscar and Emmy-nominee Angela Lansbury (Gaslight,” TV’s Murder, She Wrote) and Oscar-winner Donna Reed (From Here to Eternity).
Special Features:
Commentary by Angela Lansbury and film historian Steve Haberman
Oscar-winning 1945 MGM short Stairway to Light
Oscar-winning 1945 MGM cartoon Quiet Please!
Original Theatrical trailer
Purchase:
DVD
Snuff 102 (2007)
Starring:
Eduardo Poli, Yamila Greco, Andrea Alfonso
Synopsis:
When a young journalist decides to investigate the macabre world of snuff films, the worst of destinations awaits her as she becomes the next on-camera victim.
Mariano Peralta’s controversial Argentinian gore film has been deemed one of the sickest and most depraved films ever made.
Special Features:
Reversible GORE Cover
Spanish Language With Removable English Subtitles
Audio Commentary With Director Mariano Peralta
Extensive Cast Interviews
Interview With Director Mariano Peralta
Bits And Pieces Making Of Featurette
Deleted Scenes
Stills Gallery
Trailers For Upcoming Massacre Video Releases
Purchase:
DVD
Summer of Blood (2014)
Starring:
Jonathan Caouette, Zach Clark
Synopsis:
Erik Sparrow is one of the lucky ones. He’s got a good job. He’s in a stable relationship. He lives in one of the greatest cities in the world. Does he deserve it? Probably not. He’s not too bright. He’s not very attractive. He’s not at all ambitious. He’s chubby and he’s always complaining. And when his girlfriend Jody proposes to him, he doesn’t even have the good sense to accept her offer. He’ll never find a woman like this again. Instead, Erik bumbles his way around the issue, offering one excuse after another for not getting married. When Jody dumps him and starts seeing an old flame from college, Erik tries to win her back. When he fails, he attempts to date other women, but the results are disastrous. Erik’s starts falling apart. His job grows more unfulfilling. He becomes obsessed with a kinky co-worker who has no interest in him. He becomes riddled with despair. One night, Erik meets an enigmatic stranger named Gavin who asks him, “Do you want to die?” Erik shrugs and says, “I do.” Then everything goes pitch black. When Erik wakes up from the darkness, he finds himself changed forever. He’s stronger, more confident and free to do whatever he wants. Dating is a synch. He’s a lothario, a sexual dynamo; able to seduce any women he wants without even trying. He quits his job. Finally, he’s free and unshackled with not a care in the world. Except for one little thing, the excruciating stomach pains. There’s only one remedy for that… BLOOD!
Purchase:
DVD
Blu-ray
COLLECTIONS
Cannibal Massacre Collection
Starring:
Various
Movies:
PAPAYA: LOVE GODDESS OF THE CANNIBALS
Her name was Sirpa Lane, the succulent Finnish beauty who became an international sex symbol in Roger Vadim’s Charlotte, then shocked the world with her inhuman degradation in Walerian Borowczyk’s The Beast. But perhaps her ultimate cinematic destiny was to star in this tropical sleaze-fest from the notorious Joe D Amato, director of Emanuelle And The White Slave Trade and Anthropophagus, as a woman who hungrily surrenders to perverse trysts, native vengeance, graphic carnal carnage and beyond. Severin Films is shamelessly proud to present Papaya fully restored including the complete Disco Cannibal Blood Orgy sequence from an Italian vault print seized from the private collection of a jailed magistrate!
CANNIBAL TERROR
Even by the sleaziest standards of 80s EuroTrash, it remains a film that must be seen to be believed: When a pair of criminal knuckleheads and their busty moll kidnap the young daughter of a wealthy tycoon, they foolishly choose to hide in a local jungle infested with ferocious cannibals. What follows is a mind-roasting exercise in atrocious acting, gratuitous nudity and gut-munching mayhem, by a ravenous tribe of flesh eaters who inexplicably sport comb-overs and Elvis sideburns. Robert Foster (Inconfessable Orgies Of Emmanuelle), Pamela Stanford (White Cannibal Queen) and Burt Altman (The Devil Hunter) star in this infamous Spanish/French co-production that was banned in Britain as one of the original Video Nasties and is now presented uncut, uncensored and mastered in Hi-Def for the first time ever in America!
DEVIL HUNTER
King Of EuroSleaze Jess Franco (Bloody Moon, Macumba Sexual) takes on the 80s Cannibal genre and delivers a jungle sickie like no other! When a safari of sexy babes and violent boneheads ventures into native-crazed wilderness, Uncle Jess unleashes a deluge of relentless nudity, dubious anthropology and his own brand of cut-rate carnage. Ursula Fellner (Sadomania), Al Cliver (Zombie), Robert Foster (Cannibal Terror) and Gisela Hahn (Contamination) co-star in this original Video Nasty also tastefully known as Sexo Cannibal and Mandingo Manhunter with something to offend everyone, now fully restored from the original Spanish negative and presented uncut and uncensored for the first time ever in America!
Special Features:
PAPAYA: Theatrical Trailer
CANNIBAL TERROR: Spicy Deleted Scene, Theatrical Trailer
DEVIL HUNTER: Sexo Canibal Interview with Director Jess Franco
Purchase:
DVD
Scared Stiff Collection Volume 2
Starring:
Kaitlyn Ale, Mildred Ciraco, Kate Nichols, Jodie Grundin, Tim Pieciak
Movie:
LOVERBOY
He s More Devil Than You Know. This Best Feature Film at the FREAK SHOW Film Festival and Official Selection at the Killer Film Festival has turned a lot of heads. Erica Summers s LOVERBOY finds young Lauren, a beautiful girl struggling with a painful home life finding the boy of her dreams, but when his sinister side is revealed, the true horror begins in this rollercoaster thrill ride.
THE 28TH DAY: THE WRATH OF STEPH
A Horror film…For the Ladies… Better than classic status of cult classic! Entertainment Corner Zachary Scott s THE 28TH DAY: THE WRATH OF STEPH brings a true evil that is so demented that it preys on women who are on their period. Steph awakens in a forest not knowing that she has been possessed by an evil spirit. The evil consumes her body and it s a race against the clock to save her in this paranormal horror film. This Official Selection at the HORROR ON SEA film festival anthology brings it all.
SCARY TALES
Geno McGahee’s SCARY TALES concerns four friends reunite at a remote cabin, as they share some campfire stories, but the line between fantasy and reality soon gets blurred and the unexplainable begins to occur. Secrets get revealed and the stories come to life, turning nightmares into reality. Five tales,featuring twists and turns, zombies and ghosts, werewolves and demons, and more, create madness and asks the question: What are you afraid of?
PHANTOM OF THE WOODS
Fear casts a shadow. True horror returns to the woods. NewzBreaker The Official Selection at the INDIE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL, PHANTOM OF THE WOODS, concerns some teenagers experiencing their worst fears and they must run for their lives before they and everyone they care about is destroyed.
Purchase:
DVD
Scared Stiff Collection Volume 3 – The DV Trilogy
Starring:
Evan Jacobs, Isaac Golub, Brian Balchack, Courtney Oquist, David Patterson
Synopsis:
Be terrified with Evan Jacobs’ DV Trilogy!
UPON FIRST VIEWING IT IS A REQUIREMENT THAT ALL THREE FILMS BE WATCHED IN ORDER. THEY WERE ORIGINALLY CONCEIVED BY THE DIRECTOR AS ONE CONTINUOUS FILM.
Movies:
DV
James, a serial killer, has taken to recording his life so that he can examine it and stay one step ahead of the authorities. He soon finds himself hunted by one of his victims.
DV2
After the body of James was found in DV, the camera that recorded his death is taken by the Man who discovered his body. Suddenly, the Man finds himself haunted by something entirely different.
DV3
After mysteriously receiving the camera at the end of DV2, the brother of James soon finds himself becoming obsessed with how his sibling died. After going through the DV footage, the brother s life unravels unleashing hell in the process.
