July 14th may not have a lot of genre-related titles arriving on DVD and Blu-ray, but the films making their home entertainment debuts this week are a rather stellar bunch nonetheless. For anyone who may have missed two of the best indie films this year in theaters—Ex Machina and It Follows—you’ll have a chance to catch up with both this coming Tuesday.
Scream Factory is also keeping busy this week with their high-def release of Philippe Mora’s cult classic, Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf, and they also have two double feature Blu-rays coming out as well. Severin Films has put together an extensive special edition release of the recent documentary Lost Soul, which follows the troubled production of Richard Stanley’s Island of Doctor Moreau and looks pretty incredible and for all you X-Men fans out there, the Rogue Cut version of Days of Future Past arrives on Blu-ray this Tuesday, too.
Ex Machina (Lionsgate, Blu-ray/Digital HD & DVD/Digital)
After winning a competition to spend a week at the mountain estate of his company's brilliant CEO (Oscar Isaac), programmer Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) arrives to discover he has been chosen to take part in a study of artificial intelligence. Sworn to secrecy and cut off from the outside world, Caleb meets his subject, a beguiling and seductive android (Alicia Vikander)-and is plunged into an A.I. experiment beyond his wildest dreams in this epic thriller charged with heart-stopping suspense.
Special Features include "Through the Looking Glass: Creating Ex Machina" 5-Part Featurette, SXSW Q&A with Cast and Crew and Eight Behind-the-Scenes Vignettes.
Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Your Sister Is A Werewolf! After countless millennia of watching, waiting and stalking, the unholy creatures known as werewolves are poised to inherit the earth. Legendary horror icon Christopher Lee faces off against sexy cult favorite Sybil Danning (Battle Beyond the Stars, Chained Heat, Grindhouse) in this terrifying descent into a world of nightmares that turns out to be all too real!
After newscaster Karen White’s shocking on-screen transformation and violent death (in the original The Howling), her brother Ben (Reb Brown, Yor, the Hunter of the Future) is approached by Stefan Crosscoe (Lee), a mysterious man who claims that Karen has, in fact, become a werewolf. But this is the least of their worries... to save mankind, Stefan and Ben must travel to Transylvania to battle and destroy Stirba (Danning), the immortal queen of all werewolves, before she is restored to her full powers!
Also starring Annie McEnroe (The Hand) and Marsha A. Hunt (Dracula A.D. 1972), directed by Philippe Mora (The Marsupials: The Howling III, Communion, The Beast Within), and driven by a pulsing punk-y soundtrack, this film is a no-holds-barred horror-fest that’ll rip your heart out… and you’ll like it.
Special Features include Audio Commentary With Director Philippe Mora, Audio Commentary With Composer Steve Parsons And Editor Charles Bornstein, Leading Man – An Interview With Actor Reb Brown, Queen of the Werewolves – An Interview With Actress Sybil Danning, A Monkey Phase – Interviews With Special Make-Up Effects Artists Steve Johnson And Scott Wheeler, Behind the Scenes Footage (in HD - from Philippe Mora’s archive), Alternate Opening and Alternate Ending (in HD – from Philippe Mora’s archive), Theatrical Trailer and Still Gallery.
It Follows (Anchor Bay Home Entertainment, Blu-ray/Digital HD & DVD)
For 19-year-old Jay, fall should be about school, boys and weekends out at the lake. But after a seemingly innocent sexual encounter, she finds herself plagued by strange visions and the inescapable sense that someone, or something, is following her. Jay and her teenage friends must now find a way to escape the horrors that seem to be only a few steps behind in this chiller that Bloody Disgusting calls “the scariest movie of 2015.”
The many special features on the Blu-ray™ and DVD include a critics’ commentary hosted by Nerdist’s Scott Weinberg and featuring Eric D. Snider (MovieBS), Britt Hayes (Screencrush), Samuel D. Zimmerman (Shock Till You Drop), Alison Nastasi (Flavorwire) and Eric Vespe (Ain't It Cool News); the featurette “A Conversation with Film Composer Disasterpeace” and a Poster Art Gallery.
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (Severin Films, Blu/DVD/CD & DVD)
In 1995, visionary writer/director Richard Stanley (HARDWARE, DUST DEVIL) got the green light for his dream project: An epic adaptation of H.G. Wells The Island Of Doctor Moreau starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. But only days into production, an unprecedented storm of natural disasters, monstrous egos and disturbing imagery along with chaos, insanity and witchcraft would trigger perhaps the most infamous behind-the-scenes catastrophe in modern movie history. Now director/producer David Gregory (THE THEATRE BIZARRE, PLAGUE TOWN) reveals the untold story behind one of the all-time greatest cinematic train wrecks (Variety) in this wonderfully weird and gripping (Entertainment Weekly) documentary featuring never-before-seen footage, startling new interviews with actors Fairuza Balk and Rob Morrow, studio executives, crew members and for the first time ever the notoriously reclusive Stanley himself, plus nearly 2 hours of exclusive Bonus Features.
Special Features include:
DISC 1: Out-takes (sub-menu: Richard Stanley, Marco Hofschneider, Bruce Fuller, Jim Sbardellati, Graham Humphreys and others TBD, Graham Humphreys Concept Gallery With Commentary By Richard Stanley, Archive Moreau Interview With John Frankenheimer, Barbara Steele Recalls Moreau Audio Interview, The Beast Of Morbido Featurette, Return To The Moreau Locations Featurette and Boar Man Diary.
DISC 2: The H.G. Wells Files Bonus Disc, Insel Der Verschollenen (Island of the Lost) - Recently Discovered 1921 German version of Moreau, H.G. Wells On Film Featurette With Expert Sylvia Hardy and Richard Stanley on Wells.
BONUS AUDIO CD: Richard Stanley Reads The Island Of Dr. Moreau By H.G. Wells.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
The Andromeda Strain (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu-ray)
Cellar Dweller/Catacombs Double Feature (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Kruel (Midnight Releasing, DVD)
The Outing/The Godsend (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
The Unwanted (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray & DVD)
X-Men: Days of Future Past- The Rogue Cut (20th Century Fox, Blu-ray)
Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell: Season One (Turner Home Entertainment, DVD)
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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