Halloween: Movies Round-up [Home Entertainment]
With Halloween 2016 just around the corner, we follow our Theatrical Round-up with a look at some of the best new home entertainment releases to grace the shelves over the recent weeks.
THE HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS FEAST
17-Disc Collector’s Edition Boxset
Amazon Exclusive | Arrow Video
In 1963, director Herschell Gordon Lewis pulled a cow’s tongue out of an actress’ mouth on camera, and in doing so, changed the landscape of horror cinema forever. That sequence was just one of numerous gruesome gags featured in Blood Feast, the film credited as being the world s first gore movie. It’s no exaggeration to say that the modern gross-out movies of today owe their very existence to the pioneering efforts of H.G. Lewis.
But whilst Lewis is most widely celebrated for his blood-and-guts epics (Two Thousand Maniacs!, The Wizard of Gore et al.), there’s more to the prolific director than splatter. From tales of sordid photographers (Scum of the Earth) to sex robots (How to Make a Doll), from biker girl-gangs (She-Devils on Wheels) to youths-run-amok (Just for the Hell of It), and from psychic witches (Something Weird) to hard liquor-loving hillbillies (Moonshine Mountain), the filmography of H.G. Lewis reads like a veritable wish-list of exploitation movie madness.
Now, for the first time ever, Arrow Video is proud to present fourteen of the Godfather of Gore’s most essential films (including nine Blu-ray world debuts), collected together at last and packed full of eye-popping bonus content. So put your feet up, pour yourself a glass of good ol moonshine, and prepare yourself for a feast H.G. Lewis style!
Special Features:
- Fourteen of the Godfather of Gore s finest attractions, newly restored from original and best surviving vault materials: Blood Feast, Scum of the Earth, Two Thousand Maniacs!, Moonshine Mountain, Color Me Blood Red, Something Weird, The Gruesome Twosome, A Taste of Blood, She-Devils on Wheels, Just for the Hell of It, How to Make a Doll, The Wizard of Gore, The Gore Gore Girls, This Stuff’ll Kill Ya!
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the features and extras on 7 Blu-ray and 7 DVD discs
- Brand new introductions to the films by Lewis
- Hours of extras including newly-produced interviews and featurettes, commentaries, short films and much more
- Additional 2 bonus Blu-rays featuring 1.33:1 versions of Blood Feast, Scum of the Earth, Color Me Blood Red, A Taste of Blood and The Wizard of Gore [limited editions exclusive]
- Additional bonus DVD: Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Godfather of Gore documentary [limited editions exclusive]
- 28-page H.G. Lewis annual stuffed full with Lewis-themed activities plus archive promotional material [limited editions exclusive]
- Newly illustrated packaging by The Twins of Evil [Feast edition exclusive]
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THE CONJURING 2: THE ENFIELD CASE
A Film By James Wan
Starring Patrick Wilson & Vera Farmiga
Modern master of horror James Wan is back with a chilling new paranormal case to petrify audiences in THE CONJURING 2: THE ENFIELD CASE.
Reprising their roles, Oscar nominee Vera Farmiga (“Up In the Air,” TV’s “Bates Motel”) and Patrick Wilson (the “Insidious” films), star as Lorraine and Ed Warren, who, in one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, travel to north London to help a single mother raising four children alone in a house plagued by malicious spirits.
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DARK WATER
Directed by Hideo Nakata
Starring Hitomi Kuroki, Rio Kanno, Mirei Oguchi
Dual Format Edition | Arrow Video
After terrifying audiences worldwide with the blockbuster J-horror classic Ring and its sequel, director Hideo Nakata returned to the genre for Dark Water, another highly atmospheric, and critically acclaimed, tale of the supernatural which took the common theme of the “dead wet girl” to new heights of suspense and drama.
Based upon on a short story by Ring author Koji Suzuki, Dark Water follows Yoshimi, a single mother struggling to win sole custody of her only child, Ikuko. When they move into a new home within a dilapidated and long-forgotten apartment complex, Yoshimi begins to experience startling visions and unexplainable sounds, calling her mental well-being into question, and endangering not only her custody of Ikuko, but perhaps their lives as well.
Beautifully shot by the same cinematographer as Ring and Pulse, and featuring an especially unnerving sound design, Dark Water successfully merges spine-tingling tension with a family’s heart-wrenching emotional struggle, creating one of the very finest and most unsettling contemporary Japanese horror films.
Special Features:
- High Definition digital transfer
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original 5.1 audio (DTS-HD on the Blu-ray)
- Brand new interview with director Hideo Nakata
- Brand new interview with novelist Koji Suzuki
- Brand new interview with cinematographer Junichiro Hayashi
- Archive interview with actress Asami Mizukawa
- Original ‘Making of’ documentary
- Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Peter Strain
First pressing only: illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing by David Kalat, author of J-Horror: The Definitive Guide to The Ring, The Grudge and Beyond, and an examination of the American remake by writer and editor Michael Gingold
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CAT PEOPLE
A Film By Jacques Tourneur
Starring Simone Simon & Kent Smith
Criterion Collection | Blu-ray
The first of the horror films producer Val Lewton made for RKO Pictures redefined the genre by leaving its most frightening terrors to its audience’s imagination.
Simone Simon stars as a Serbian émigré in Manhattan who believes that, because of an ancient curse, any physical intimacy with the man she loves (Kent Smith) will turn her into a feline predator.
Lewton, a consummate producer-auteur who oversaw every aspect of his projects, found an ideal director in Jacques Tourneur, a chiaroscuro stylist adept at keeping viewers off-kilter with startling compositions and psychological innuendo.
Together, they eschewed the canned effects of earlier monster movies in favor of shocking with subtle shadows and creative audio cues.
One of the studio’s most successful movies of the 1940s, Cat People raised the creature feature to new heights of sophistication and mystery.
Special Features:
- New 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Audio commentary from 2005 featuring film historian Gregory Mank, with excerpts from an audio interview with actor Simone Simon
- Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows, a 2008 feature-length documentary that explores the life and career of the legendary Hollywood producer
- Interview with director Jacques Tourneur from 1979
- New interview with cinematographer John Bailey about the look of the film
- Trailer
- PLUS: An essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien
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BURNT OFFERINGS
Directed by Dan Curtis
Starring Oliver Reed, Karen Black & Bette Davis
Dual Format Edition | Arrow Video
When college lecturer Ben Rolf (Oliver Reed, The Brood, The Devils) and his family rent a remote country mansion at a bargain price, they believe they’re in for an uneventful summer.
Little do they realise that they’ve just moved into a veritable house of horrors! As the malevolent force that dwells within its walls exerts its dark influence on the minds of its new inhabitants, and the sinister occurrences begin to mount up, it grows increasingly clear that this is a holiday they’ll never forget… provided any of them live to tell of it.
Also starring Karen Black (The Day of the Locust) and Bette Davis (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?), Burnt Offerings provides a unique and chilling portrait of a modern family in meltdown. P
resented in high definition for the first time in the UK, there has never been a better time to revisit – or discover for the first time – this unforgettable slice of American Gothic.
Special Features:
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM
- Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary by film historian Richard Harland Smith
- Audio commentary with director/co-writer/producer Dan Curtis, actress Karen Black and co-screenwriter William F. Nolan
- Acting His Face, an interview with actor Anthony James
- Blood Ties, an interview with actor Lee Montgomery
- From the Ashes, an interview with screenwriter William F. Nolan
- Portraits of Fear, an animated gallery of promotional materials and behind-the-scenes stills
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Haunt Love
First pressing only: Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Kat Ellinger
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CHRISTINE
A Film By John Carpenter
Powerhouse Films | Indicator Series
John Carpenter brings Stephen King s best-selling novel to life in this chilling thriller.
She was born in Detroit … on an automobile assembly line. But she is no ordinary automobile. Deep within her chassis lives an unholy presence.
She is CHRISTINE a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury whose unique standard equipment includes an evil, indestructible vengeance that will destroy anyone in her way.
She seduces 17-year-old Arnie Cunningham (Keith Gordon), who becomes consumed with passion for her sleek, rounded chrome-laden body.
She demands his complete and unquestioned devotion and when outsiders seek to interfere, they become the victims of Christine s horrifying wrath.
Special Features :
- Audio commentary featuring John Carpenter and Keith Gordon
- Deleted scenes (26 mins)
- Ignition (12 mins): how Christine got started
- Fast and Furious (29 mins): interviews with Carpenter and screenwriter Bill Phillips
- Finish Line (7 mins): a look at the score
- Isolated score track
- Original theatrical trailer
- New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
- Booklet with new and archival contents
- Dual format edition
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Stay tuned folks … More to follow …
Get in touch and let us know what you think of our choices! We’d love to know what you’ve got planned for your Halloween viewing!
