Night Of The Sorcerers / The Loreley’s Grasp (Scream Factory) (Blu-Ray)

A DOUBLE FEATURE FROM DIRECTOR ARMANDO de OSSORIO of the notorious Blind Dead series!

THE NIGHT OF THE SORCERERS
1080p High-Definition (1.33:1)

A group of explorers arrive in Africa to study the wildlife in the same area where a brutal native ritual occurred in 1910. All is tranquil until night falls and distant drumming draws one of the female members of the group to investigate the jungle. From there, a nightmare will be awakened … a nightmare of zombie natives and scantily-clad vampire women who prowl the moonlight jungle in search of fresh blood and more victims to sacrifice.

THE LORELEY’S GRASP
1080p High-Definition Widescreen (1.85:1)

In a town by the Rhine river, young women are turning up dead … savagely torn to pieces and their hearts missing. Concerned that whatever beast is doing these horrible murders will end up attacking the female students, a nearby school for women hires a hunter to find and kill the creature. The hunter will soon find out that this is no ordinary beast that craves human hearts, but rather a deceptive, alluring and mysterious being – The Loreley – who is already looking for another heart to use in a gruesome ancient ritual.

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Blu-Ray, DVD, Horror,

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Projected Man (Scream Factory) (Blu-Ray)

A million volts of death in each of his hands!

Dr. Paul Steiner and Dr. Christopher Mitchell have created a projection device that can transmit any object within a few miles of their new device. The device works well on inanimate objects, but using it on a living device causes death. When Steiner is accidentally projected, he becomes a disfigured monster who has the ability to kill by electrification.This first-time-on-home-video release features a new 2K scan of the film’s interpositive.

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Blu-Ray, DVD, Sci-Fi, Thriller,

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She Wore a Yellow Ribbon [Blu-ray]

Joanne Dru teams with The DUKE again in this Technicolor marvel (after appearing together in "Red River" the year before). In this one, Dru plays a young romantic hopeful for both John Agar and Harry Carey, Jr.
Monument Valley never looked better. The stormclouds are stunning, even if the fake lightning is not. And the sunsets! Only Technicolor can capture the colors with such brilliance!
While I prefer "Rio Grande" and the lamentably-not-on-DVD-yet "Fort Apache", "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" plays more as a quiet homage to the cavalry than the actionfests of the other two films. Not that this film is sparse on action! However, the focus here is most definitely on the honor and wisdom of the old guard.
As usual, Ford has many subtle threads woven in to the plot of the film that enhance the story with backstories that are only hinted at. The most notable of these is the former Confederate soldiers, now part of the U.S. Cavalry. Their honor is intact, and they are still true to their ideals, despite wearing the uniform of the Yankee. There is, we know, much more to their story, but we see just what we need to. Any more, and the real story would get lost, the focus moved to the wrong place. How many modern directors make the mistake of letting this happen again and again and again? Too many, for sure.

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Blu-Ray, DVD, Reviews,

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Blood for Dracula (1974)

Paul Morrissey's moralistic take on modern values is a brash mixture of humor, horror, and sex - and a revelation to fans of the horror film. In Blood for Dracula, the infamous count searches Italy for virgin blood

On my recent trip to Japan I had ample opportunity to check out some of their movie stores, and browse blu-rays. Let it first be said that trying to find anything specific over there is a frustrating experience, because even their english titles are sorted by katakana (unlike with music). However, since so few of their Japanese titles have english subtitles, and their english-language titles are mostly available much cheaper elsewhere, there were only a couple specific blu-rays I was really after anyways. 

One of which was the Japanese release of Blood for Dracula. Both Blood for Dracula and sister film Flesh for Frankenstein have been released only in Japan and Australia, and screenshot comparisons have shown that the Australian releases are vastly inferior. Knowing this, I searched Tokyo for a copy of Dracula, and in my last week there, finally found it in the Tower Records in Shibuya.

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Blu-Ray, DVD, Horror, Japanese, Reviews,

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Zombie High (Scream Factory) (DVD / Blu-Ray Combo)

Zombie High (Scream Factory) (DVD / Blu-Ray Combo)

The incredible story of a hard-working student and the warped way of life that made her go wacky! Virginia Madsen (Candyman, Sideways) and Richard Cox (Cruising) star in this humorous thriller about the bizarre happenings that occur in a prestigious boarding school. It seems to Andrea Miller (Madsen) that the upper-classmen act like robots. They're the perfect students – dedicated, involved and loyal. Their clothes are perfectly pressed and their hair is perfectly styled. It seems that the teachers have something to do with this ingratiating behavior. And when Andrea, the new kid at school, sees her friends turning into clones, she starts to suspect the worst. The film features a great supporting cast including Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks, Ray Donovan), Scott Coffey (Mullholland Drive, Lost Highway) and Paul Feig, who would go on to create the TV series Freaks And Geeks and direct such films as Spy, Bridsmaids and the 2016 remake of Ghostbusters. - See more at: http://www.diabolikdvd.com/category/Cult-Favorites/Zombie-High-(Scream-Factory)-(DVD-%5Bsl%5D-Blu~Ray-Combo).html#sthash.xFlEVu3h.dpuf

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Blu-Ray, DVD, Horror,

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River of Death (1989) (Kino Lorber) Blu-ray

Released in May 2015

Kino Lorber have confirmed that they will release on Blu-ray director Steve Carver's film River of Death (1989), starring Michael Dudikoff, Donald Pleasence, Robert Vaughn, and Herbert Lom.

Synopsis: In 1945, with the Allies approaching, two German officers ransack a monastery in Greece and make plans to escape with the loot. However, one of the Germans is left behind by his partner, while the other escapes by submarine from Wilhelmshaven. Forty years elapse, a wealthy millionaire, Smith, hires Hamilton, allegedly an expert on the jungle, to lead him to the ruins of a lost Indian civilization recently discovered in the wilderness of the Amazon jungle in Brazil. The entourage faces giant anacondas, giant spiders, cannibalistic natives, and so on, discovering a settlement of Nazi war criminals and their descendants, living as if the Third Reich had never ended. It is soon clear that Smith's real purpose has little to do with archaeology, and more to do with revenge.

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1989, Action, Blu-Ray, DVD,

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Enter the Ninja (1981)

Officially, Chuck Norris' The Octagon is the film that first introduced ninjas to American cinema, but since "Enter the Ninja" is both blunter about their inclusion and provided stardom for the quintessential on-film shadow warrior, Sho Kosugi, I consider it to be at least as important in igniting the "ninja craze" of the 1980s. A production of our dearly departed Cannon Films, the movie initiates its particular subgenre with relatively tactless hammyness: it's pretty cheesy, and far from being a great martial arts film. Nevertheless, Cannon's made movies that are both far worse technically and far less entertaining. This one's worth seeing, if only for giggles.

The story: a world-weary war veteran-turned-ninja (Franco Nero, Django) visits his expatriate brother-in-arms (Alex Courtney, And the Band Played On) in Manila, where he becomes the only thing standing in the way of a greedy businessman (Christopher George, The Rat Patrol) attempting to seize his friend's plantation by force.

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1981, Action, Blu-Ray, DVD,

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Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)

By the time "Frankenstein Created Woman" arrived in theaters in 1967, the series, from legendary horror factory Hammer Films, was already three installments into its run. Facing a new cinematic adventure, the producers elected to avoid coarse savagery of the flesh to travel within, sparking to a story concerning the trappable aspects of the human soul. Of course, some gore zone visits were required to please the fan base, yet, for the most part, "Frankenstein Creates Woman" is a movie with ideas, just no real sense of how implement them into a riveting feature. Lead work from Peter Cushing is reliably passionate and regal, and bombshell Susan Denberg makes an impression as an innocent vengeance machine, but the effort lacks a certain macabre zest present in other Hammer Horror endeavors. While it's digestible, with a handful of respectable scenes, the picture doesn't rise to the occasion, reaching its potential as a Frankenstein film with a minor in metaphysics.

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1967, Blu-Ray, DVD, Horror, Reviews,

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Baron Blood (1972)

After spending several years exploring more contemporary genres, director Mario Bava (BLACK SUNDAY) returned with BARON BLOOD to the gothic as a setting for a gruesome thriller. Working with producer Alfredo Leone, Bava crafted a film that is loyal to the bylaws of traditional horror, but is infused with a more modern visual style.

An American professor (Antonio Cantafora) travels to the estate of his ancestor, the sadistic Baron Otto von Kleist, seeking the truth beneath his notorious reputation. When he and his assistant Eva (Elke Sommer) read aloud an ancient incantation, the Baron's spirit is resurrected, leading to a series of violent deaths within the haunted castle.




SPECIAL FEATURES:
• Mastered in HD from the 35mm negative
• Audio commentary by Tim Lucas, author of Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark
• Alternate title sequences
• Original theatrical trailers
• Radio spots
• Original trailers of other Bava films

~ Source: KinoLorber.com

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Blu-Ray, DVD,

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Planet of the Apes '68 [Blu-ray]

20th Century Fox released the film previously on DVD by itself and in a box set with the rest of the Apes films plus a bonus DVD of extras. Now, for those who just want the first (and best) film of the series and all of the extras, Fox has released an excellent two-DVD special edition of Planet of the Apes to celebrate its 35th anniversary.
The DVD's extras get off to a shaky start with the two lackluster audio commentaries. The first is by legendary composer, Jerry Goldsmith, and the second by actors Roddy McDowall, Natalie Trundy, Kim Hunter and make-up artist John Chambers. Both commentaries could benefit from some extensive editing. There is way too much dead air that one has to sit through to get to the few interesting tidbits of information. The DVD producers should have edited down these commentaries to only the scenes in the movie that are actually commented on, like with the audio tracks on the Glengarry Glen Ross and The Right Stuff DVDs.

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1968, Blu-Ray, DVD, Planet Of The Apes, Reviews, Sci-Fi,

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