HALLUCINOGENIC DRUGS AND HAUNTED PRISONS APPARENTLY DON'T MIX WELL IN GARRETT KRUITHOF'S INDIE HORROR FLICK!
There is one thing about DEVIL'S ACID that has completely intrigued me, and that's the fact that the events in the film are apparently a bedtime story being told to two kids by his drunken dad! (THE PRINCESS BRIDE this isn't!) Yep, you read that right!
No dragons, or knights, or damsels in distress are in store for these children - they're getting a tale about drug-fueled sex parties in an abandoned prison where the Devil himself shows up to have some fun! And now that I've talked you (and myself) into watching DEVIL'S ACID, you can currently obtain it on DVD, or stream it instantly on AMAZON!
Synopsis: A wealthy man named Johnny holds a "Haunted Hot Girl Challenge" every year in a quest to sleep with as many women as possible. Things get out of hand this year when Johnny and the participants take a potent strain of acid (the titular "Devil's Acid") in an abandoned, haunted prison. Everything is going as planned until the Devil himself shows up to settle an old score.
DEVIL'S ACID is the feature-length directorial debut of Garrett Kruithof, and stars American Horror Story’s Drew Rin Varick, Ashley Dulaney (Justified), Jessica Lynn Parsons (S.W.A.T), Betty Jeune (THE FLORIDA PROJECT), Nina Leon (Longmire) and Eric Gibson!
Stills & Trailer: (Click on images to enlarge them.)
HIGH OCTANE PICTURES' NEW INDEPENDENT HORROR FEATURE IS AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON AMAZON!
Fans of MIDSOMMAR may want to check out the directorial feature film debut of Luke Gosling and Sean Brown! BLOOD MYTH focuses on a journalist's desperate attempts to find his missing (and pregnant) fiancee, who may have been kidnapped by an evil cult! (Don't you just hate it when that happens?!)
High Octane Pictures released BLOOD MYTH to both DVD & Amazon Prime Video on November 5th - check out the synopsis, stills, and trailer below before you commit yourself to renting or owning this title. Or, as I often do, go in blind and perhaps you will be pleasantly surprised!
CURSED FILMS AND HOUSES, WILD WEST OUTLAWS, CANNIBALS, AND TANYA ROBERTS AWAIT YOU IN UMBRELLA'S NEWEST DVD & BLU-RAY TITLES!
After a relatively quiet October, Umbrella is back with a bunch of new releases that you'll want to add to your movie collections! In Kimble Rendall's forgotten slasher movie CUT, a killer starts knocking off a group of filmmakers that are trying to complete an unfinished fright flick, WWE wrestler CM PUNK stars as a stressed-out husband that is trying to remodel a house with a dark past in GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR, and Tanya Roberts stars as the titular character in SHEENA (i.e. the female BEASTMASTER)!
Also available this month are Tobe Hooper's immortal classic THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (in case you wanted to add yet another edition to your TCM collection) and a region free Blu-ray of YOUNG GUNS II, which features Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, Lou Diamond Philips, and Kiefer Sutherland!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
* On December 4th, Umbrella Entertainment is bringing Jeff Begos' BLISS to Region 4-locked DVD, which features a struggling artist that engages in a hedonistic lifestyle that somehow leads her to crave fresh human blood!
* Also available on that date is a new Blu-ray release of CONEHEADS, one of the few feature-length films based upon a SNL sketch that isn't terrible!
* December 4th is also the release date for Mike Ahern's EXTRA ORDINARY, a new supernatural horror-comedy featuring Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward, and Will Forte.
* IRON FISTS AND KUNG FU KICKS is probably the main Umbrella release I'm looking forward to the most next month. Produced by Veronica Fury (who also produced the fantastic ELECTRIC BOOGALOO doc) this new documentary chronicles the impact of Hong Kong cinema on the rest of the world's action cinema!
CUT (2000)
Synopsis: 1985. The cast and crew of the horror flick Hot Blooded are learning first hand what it means to be stalked by a masked killer. When the director (pop superstar, Kylie Minogue) is viciously murdered on set the production is shut down and the film locked away, incomplete. But every time the footage is screened, somebody dies...
Fourteen years later, a group of enthusiastic film students decide to finish Hot Blooded. Led by Raffy, the director (Jessica Napier - GHOST RIDER), and producer Hester (Sarah Kants - Ashes to Ashes), they manage to track down Vanessa Turnbill (Molly Ringwald - THE BREAKFAST CLUB, SIXTEEN CANDLES), the star of the original film who reluctantly agrees to return to Australia. After shooting commences on the original eerie location, the students start to disappear one by one. Now, they just have to finish the film before it finishes them!
Disc Specs:
Rated R | Color | 82 minutes | Region Free
Video - 1080p Widescreen (16:9)
Audio - English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Extras:
NEW! 4K restoration from the original 35mm interpositive!
NEW! Audio Commentary with Director Kimble Rendall and Writer Dave Warner!
NEW! Behind the Scenes of CUT.
NEW! Interviews with Cast & Crew: Molly Ringwald, Sarah Kants, Jessica Napier, Kylie Minogue, Sam Lewis, Geoff Revell, Simon Bossel, Kimble Rendall, Martin Fabinyi, and Michael Gudinski!
Synopsis: Bursting pipes, rotting walls, and unidentifiable slime were not what Don Koch (WWE legend Phil "CM Punk" Brooks) expected when he convinced his wife Liz (Trieste Kelly Dunn - Blindspot) that he could rehab their new Victorian home himself. In over his head, under duress, and tempted by his old weaknesses, Don soon discovers that the house has its own dark, sordid history and won't be so easy to renovate after all....
Disc Specs:
Rated R | Color | 92 minutes | Region 4
Video - 480p Widescreen (16:9)
Audio - English 5.1 Dolby Digital
Extras:
None.
ORDER "GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR" ON DVD FROM UMBRELLA ENTERTAINMENT, OR PURCHASE IT ON DVD & BLU-RAY FROM AMAZON!
SHEENA (1984)
Synopsis: The Zambouli tribe raise a young white orphan whom their shaman believes to have been sent as part of a mystical prophecy, teaching her the ways of telepathic communication with animals. The girl grows up to be SHEENA, QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE (Tanya Roberts), and she is soon called upon to save the Zambouli from annihilation by Prince Otwani (Trevor Thomas), who wants the precious metal under the natives' land. Sheena is also aided by a reporter named Vic Casey (Ted Wass) who falls for her charms.
Disc Specs:
Rated PG | Color | 117 minutes | Region 4
Video - 480p Widescreen (16:9)
Audio - English Dolby Digital 2.0
Synopsis: When THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE hit movie theaters in 1974, it quickly supplanted the previous year's top horror flick, THE EXORCIST, as "the most terrifying movie ever made." But unlike William Friedkin's film, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE eschewed standard production values and modern special effects in favor of a grainy documentary-like approach with visceral, low-tech, in-your-face visual effects.
This tale of five young students who unwittingly meet up with a sinister hitchhiker and the mask-wearing maniac Leatherface (whose mask is actually made from dried human skin), turned a lumberjack's tool into the stuff of nightmares and the blood-curdling scream into an art form!
Disc Specs:
Rated R | Color | 84 minutes | Region Free
Video - 480p Widescreen (16:9)
Audio - English Dolby Digital 5.1 & 2.0
Extras:
High Definition Transfer from the 16mm Camera Originals!
Feature-length commentary with Tobe Hooper, cinematographer Daniel Pearl and actor Gunnar Hansen!
Feature-length commentary with actors Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Allen Danziger and art director Robert A. Burns!
Synopsis: 1879 - The Lincoln County Wars have ended but bad blood endures. Billy the Kid's outlaw ingrates are penned like sows in a Lincoln County pit, and the Kid is trapped in a nearby hotel. But the hangman will go home disappointed tonight because Billy cleverly breaks himself - then his gang - free, and one of the West's greatest legends lives to ride another day! Now Billy and his men must elude Sheriff Pat Garrett (William Peterson - MULHOLLAND FALLS, MANHUNTER), and find safety by crossing over the border to Mexico!
And now we can add ANIMAL AMONG US to the list... or can we? Honestly, I don't quite know for sure. Whatever the creature in this film is, it's big, furry, and fast - it could be a Sasquatch-like beast, or a werewolf, or a secret military weapon gone rogue! I guess the only way to find out for sure is to watch it on DVD or Video on Demand on November 19th!
Synopsis: This November, Christian Oliver (Sense8, HOUSE OF GOOD AND EVIL) and Larisa Oleynik (Mad Men, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU) come face to face with hirsute terror in John Woodruff’s highly-anticipated horror throwback, ANIMAL AMONG US!
Fifteen years ago, two teenage girls were murdered at Merrymaker Campgrounds. The case was filed as an animal attack, the camp was condemned, and the killer never found. But something horrific still waits in those woods, ready to kill again.
FRIDAY THE 13TH meets DOG SOLDIERS in John Woodruff's new monster movie, which also stars Don Frye, Christine Donlon, Jonathan Murphy, Erin Daniels, Heather Tom, Jasmine Dustin, and Whitney Davis!
Stills & Trailer: (Click on images to enlarge them.)
BILL OBERST JR. AND BILL MOSELEY STAR IN THIS UPCOMING INDIE KILLER PUPPET FLICK!
Most movies that feature an evil ventriloquist dummy usually only have one puppet (e.g. MAGIC, MAKING CONTACT, TRILOQUIST). DEVIL'S JUNCTION: HANDY DANDY'S REVENGE, which was directed by Jeff Broadstreet (who also created the infamous NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D) apparently has a whole mess of 'em! This upcoming indie Horror film is being distributed by Midnight Releasing, and will get a two-night theatrical premiere in Los Angeles on October 18th and 19th, before finally coming to DVD & VOD on November 8th!
Synopsis: Returning to the abandoned Detroit television station where they once delighted a generation of children viewers, master puppeteer Mister Jolly (Bill Oberst Jr.) re-incarnates his puppet minions for a final performance, to settle an old score with Richard Crane (Bill Moseley). The rare blood moon casts an ominous glow as Mr Jolly unleashes his puppets, lead by the infamous Handy Dandy to seek his revenge!
Further complicating Richard’s dilemma is the unexpected arrival to the Studio of his son Steffen (Jake Red) and his friends. The group become entangled in the thrilling pursuit by Mr Jolly and Handy Dandy throughout the old studio building. They soon realize that they are in a new version of “Mister Jolly and the Handy Dandy Show” - where pain is the game!
Stills & Trailer: (Click on images to enlarge them.)
DEVIL'S JUNCTION: HANDY DANDY'S REVENGE is playing in Los Angeles next weekend (Oct. 18th & 19th) in select theaters. The film is then set for a DVD & VOD release on November 8th - you can pre-order it now (for between $12 - $14) from AMAZON or BULL MOOSE!
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF "HEREDITARY" COMES THIS CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED FOLK HORROR TALE!
I have yet to see HEREDITARY (too many movies - so little time!) so I'm not exactly sure what I'm in for when I check out MIDSOMMAR! I've heard a lot of positive buzz about this film (which has been frequently compared to THE WICKER MAN), so I suppose I'll give it a whirl when it comes out October 8th! I should also note that a longer Director's Cut is getting a physical media release on October 28th, with nearly a half-hour of footage added back in, so plan accordingly!
Synopsis: After a family tragedy, a young American couple joins some friends at a midsummer festival in a remote Swedish village. What begins as a carefree summer holiday takes a sinister turn when the insular villagers invite their guests to partake in festivities that grow increasingly unnerving and viscerally disturbing. From the visionary mind of Ari Aster, comes this dread-soaked cinematic fairy tale where a world of darkness unfolds in broad daylight.
The film stars Florence Pugh (upcoming BLACK WIDOW and LITTLE WOMEN) as a young woman who reluctantly joins her boyfriend on a summer trip to a remote Swedish village for a midsummer festival, which becomes more and more sinister as the days pass. The film also stars Jack Reynor (KIN, FREE FIRE, Strange Angel), William Jackson Harper (TV's The Good Place, THEY REMAIN, TV's Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan), and Will Poulter (THE MAZE RUNNER, DETROIT, THE REVENANT).
Disc Specs:
Rated R | Color | 147 minutes | Region A
Video - 1080p Widescreen (2.00:1)
Audio -
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Extras:
Let the Festivities Begin: Manifesting Midsommar Featurette
Bear in a Cage Promo
MIDSOMMAR comes to Blu-ray (and DVD) on October 8th, and should cost between $20 - $25! If this movie sounds like something you'd love to add to your personal collection, order a copy now from AMAZON, BULL MOOSE, or DIABOLIK DVD! And don't forget to look for MIDSOMMAR: DIRECTOR'S CUT on October 28th!
IF YOU ENJOY ATMOSPHERIC, SLOWBURN HORROR FILMS, THEN THIS DARK WELSH FOLK TALE MIGHT JUST BE FOR YOU!
Slasher films, monster movies, and creature features are my meat and potatoes Vault Dwellers, which is why I suspect that I won't be a huge fan of GWEN. Still, I have been watching a ton of foreign Horror films on Shudder lately and have been loving what I'm seeing (I highly recommend ONE CUT OF THE DEAD, COLD HELL, and TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID), so I'm willing to give GWEN a shot when it premieres on the streaming service later this month. And heck, if I end up liking it enough, I just may pick it up on Blu-ray so I can revisit it at my leisure!
Synopsis: Gwen is a young girl whose life seems to be collapsing
around her. Struggling with her mother's mysterious illness, her
father's absence and a group of angry villagers threatening to take her
farm, Gwen must find the strength to guide her family through the
darkness. But as a malevolent presence begins to take grip of her home,
it becomes apparent there is a greater evil that may be too strong to
overcome.
It is interesting to note that GWEN is a feature-length version of Director William McGregor's short film WHO'S AFRAID OF THE WATER SPRITE? from 2018! If you're curious about it, you can watch it HERE.
Disc Specs:
Not Rated | Color | 98 minutes | Region A
Video - 1080p Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio - ?
Extras:
An interview with Actress Maxine Peake!
An interview with Actress Eleanor Worthington-Cox!
GWEN will be available on both DVD (AMAZON - BULL MOOSE) & Blu-ray on Tuesday, October 8th, and should cost between $15 - $20! If it sounds like something you'd enjoy, treat yourself to a copy from AMAZON, BULL MOOSE, or DIABOLIK DVD! If you aren't entirely committed to owning the film, you can watch it on SHUDDER on October 17th!
UMBRELLA'S LATEST TITLES OFFER UP ALIENS, EVIL PAINTINGS, HUMANEXPERIMENTATION, AND THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT!
Umbrella only released a handful of new DVDs & Blu-rays today, which is rather shocking, but it seems that they are going for quality over quantity this month. First up is their double feature of two Ray Harryhausen classics: FIRST MEN IN THE MOON has British scientists visiting the insect-like denizens of Earth's moon, while 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH focuses on a poor Venusian creature that has been stranded here on Earth. Scared and alone the "Ymir" lashes out at humanity, leading to a final (and tragic) showdown at the Colosseum in Rome, Italy!
ART OF THE DEAD features a series of paintings that depict the "Seven Deadly Sins" and cause those that come into contact with them to become corrupted. THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL is a newer Horror anthology, featuring frightening tales (and creatures) from around the world, and THE WHEEL features a paraplegic inmate who volunteers for an experiment that not only allows him to walk again, but has turned him into a living weapon!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
* On November 6th, Umbrella Entertainment is bringing Kimble Rendall's CUT to Blu-ray! This forgotten 2000 slasher flick is getting a new 4K restoration, and will be loaded with extras including an audio commentary, cast & crew interviews, and more!
* Also due out on November 6th is Umbrella's (bare bones) Blu-ray of YOUNG GUNS II!
ART OF THE DEAD (2019)
Synopsis: When Dylan Wilson (Lukas Hassel - THE BLACK ROOM) purchases a collection of seven paintings to hang in his wealthy estate, he has no idea what horrors he has unleashed for himself, his wife, Gina (Jessica Morris - One Life to Live) his son, Louis, his teen-age daughter, Donna, and his two little kids.
Only Father Mendale knows what evils lurk inside this deadly art and the history of Dorian Wilde, the artist who made a pact with dark forces when he created these paintings that represent the seven deadly sins.
Now, anyone who comes in contact with these pictures are corrupted by Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Greed, Envy, and Wrath. It's up to Father Mendale and Louis' girlfriend, Kim, to save Dylan and his family before they are all destroyed by the ART OF THE DEAD!
Disc Specs:
Rated MA 15+ | Color | 97 minutes | Region 4
Video - 480p Widescreen (16:9)
Audio - English Dolby Digital 5.1
Synopsis: A feature-length anthology film. They are known as myths, lore, and folktales. Created to give logic to mankind's darkest fears, these stories laid the foundation for what we now know as the horror genre. THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL was created by the same team behind THE ABCS OF DEATH, and features eight tales created by an international assortment of genre directors!
Disc Specs:
Rated MA 15+ | Color | 118 minutes | Region 4
Video - 480p Widescreen (16:9)
Audio - Dolby Digital 5.1
RAY HARRYHAUSEN DOUBLE FEATURE: FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1964) & 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1954)
Synopses: FIRST MEN IN THE MOON is based on legendary science fiction novelist H.G. Wells’ story, and is brought to life in eye-catching DYNAMATION by director Nathan Juran (THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD) and celebrated filmmaker Ray Harryhausen.
Brilliant and brave British scientist Joseph Cavor (Lionel Jeffries - CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG) revolutionizes a gravity deflecting device and builds his own spacecraft with the sole intention of taking a trip to the moon. Accompanied by loyal explorers Arnold Bedford (Edward Judd) and Kate Callender (Martha Hyer), they encounter all manner of intergalactic peril along the way and even discover an insect-like alien race living under the moon's surface.
In 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (which was also directed by Nathan Juran and features the masterful stop-motion work of Harryhausen) the first spaceship to visit Venus crash lands off the coast of Sicily, freeing
a small Venusian creature called the Ymir. Eventually growing to
enormous size, it threatens the city of Rome.
Disc Specs:
Rated PG | Color and Black & White | 103 & 83 minutes | Region Free
Video - 1080p Widescreen (16:9)
Audio - ?
Synopsis: Sometime in the near future, in a world where governments and organizations blur the line between national security and ethical behavior, paraplegic prison inmate Matt Mills (Jackson Gallagher - PLAYING FOR KEEPS) meets "The Board" of Satoshi-Telefair Industries, who thank him for joining the program.
Under pressure and with a promise to make him walk again, Mills agrees to volunteer. He is injected with a synthetic nanomaterial (N-B2C4B) and suffocated, only to wake up alone in a steel cell, with restored use of his legs - in the first spoke of an experimental apparatus - THE WHEEL...
Disc Specs:
Rated M | Color | 85 minutes | Region Free
Video - 480p Widescreen (16:9)
Audio - Dolby Digital 5.1
ROBERT BRONZI HAS A WILD WEST SHOWDOWN WITH MICHAEL PARE IN RENE PEREZ' INDIE WESTERN!
Last year I posted about DEATH KISS (which I still have yet to see) and was bewildered by its leading man Robert Bronzi (formerly Robert Kovacs) because he is a dead ringer for the late and great Charles Bronson. This fact was clearly not lost on Uncork'd Entertainment, who hired Bronzi as their leading man for ONCE UPON A TIME IN DEADWOOD, a new action-packed Western that was apparently filmed at some of the same locations that Sergio Leone utilized for ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST! I guess the era of Brons-ploitation has truly begun!
Synopsis: A notorious gunslinger who is slipped a slow-acting poison by an heiress and told he has three days to track down and rescue her sister, who has been kidnapped by a band of hoodlums and holds the antidote. Rene Perez directs from his screenplay, with Jeff Miller (THE TOYBOX) also contributing.
Robert Bronzi (DEATH KISS) plays the gunslinger and Michael Pare (STREETS OF FIRE, BAD MOON) plays the main villain. The remaining cast is rounded out with Karin Brauns (PLAYING WITH DOLLS series), Lauren Compton (CLOWNTOWN), actor-model Chris Matteis, J.D. Angstadt, Jose Varela Garcia, Justin Hawkins, Tony Jackson, and Sierra Sherbundy.
The movie was filmed in California as well as in Western Leone, near Almeria, Spain, site of much of the filming of the famous Sergio Leone/Charles Bronson western ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST!
Stills & Trailer: (Click on images to enlarge them.)
ONCE UPON A TIME IN DEADWOOD will be available to rent or buy digitally on October 1st, with a DVD release set for November 15th! If you want to indulge in Uncork'd Entertainment's continuing Bronzi cinematic universe, get a copy of this epic indie Western from AMAZON!
