While July 28th may be a light day in terms of the amount of horror and sci-fi titles making their home entertainment debuts, we do have an interesting assortment of films and TV to look forward to. Kino Lorber has dug up two classics—The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein and Cherry 2000 (starring Melanie Griffith)—which are being released on Blu-ray this Tuesday, and Scream Factory has another underrated genre gem getting the HD treatment as well—the horror western Ghost Town.

For all you MST3K fans out there, Shout! Factory is putting out another collection of campy films that you’ll be able to add to your collections this week and Bayview Entertainment also has a double feature of cult movies from Germany—Strangler of the Tower / Monster of London—arriving on DVD.

The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray & DVD)

After the death of Victor Frankenstein (Dennis Price), two figures vie for control of his metallic-skinned monster (Fernando Bilbao) and the radical technology that created him: the scientist's daughter, Vera (Beatriz Savón), and the immortal wizard Cagliostro (Howard Vernon), who is assisted by a blind bird-woman with an unquenchable thirst for blood (Anne Libert).

With THE EROTIC RITES OF FRANKENSTEIN, controversial filmmaker Jess Franco merged his fondness for old-school horror with his unique and perverse tastes in sex and violence, partly inspired by the garish adult European comics of the early 1970s.

Special Features include Mastered in HD from the original 35mm negative, Audio commentary by Tim Lucas, editor of Video Watchdog, French with optional English subtitles, English dubbed, and Original theatrical trailer.

Ghost Town (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)

A dusty ghost town, seemingly abandoned, holds the lives of its original inhabitants in an animated netherworld for 100 years…

When a modern-day sheriff’s deputy is lured to a desolate, spooky ghost town in search of a missing woman, he comes face-to-face with a malevolent spirit from the town’s past. The spell of death and suffering over the undead townspeople must end to set them free from eternal pain. The horrors of a possessed outlaw, in a time-suspended dimension are only the setting for a frightening battle for the mind, nerves and flesh. 

Starring Franc Luz (The Nest, When Harry Met Sally), Jimmie F. Skaggs (Oblivion, Puppetmaster), Catherine Hickland (Witchery) and Bruce Glover (Diamonds Are Forever, Chinatown, Walking Tall), Ghost Town is an unnerving, white-knuckle walk into the wild, undead west.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: XXXIII (Shout! Factory, DVD)

You purchase the latest collection of episodes from the beloved TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000. Now you are forced to endure four of cinema’s crimes against humanity. If you think you can take on low-rent gangsters and seedy nightclubs, choose Disc One. If you want to go head to head with a gigantic tarantula, choose Disc Two. If you think you can reform a bunch of 1950s juvenile delinquents, choose Disc Three. And if an old television pilot that somehow wandered into a movie theater doesn’t unnerve you, choose Disc Four.

Or choose to enjoy all of these adventures, because your sherpas are some of the funniest people and robots ever created. The plots meander, the characters mystify you, and the filmmaking upsets you. But you laugh all the way through, so any way you turn, you’ve made the right choice.

Titles Include Daddy-O, Earth Vs. The Spider, Teen-Age Crime Wave, and Agent For H.A.R.M. Special Features Include Beatnick Blues: Investigating Daddy-O, This Movie Has Legs: Looking Back At Earth Vs. The Spider, Film It Again, Sam: The Katzman Chronicles, Tommy Cook: From Jungle Boy to Teenage Jungle, Peter Mark Richman: In H.A.R.M.'s Way, MST Hour Wraps, Theatrical Trailers and 4 Exclusive Mini-Posters by Artist Steve Vance.

ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:

Cherry 2000 (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)

Helix: Season Two (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)

Justice League: Gods and Monsters (Warner Home Video, Blu/DVD/Digital HD & DVD)

Strangler of the Tower/Monster of London Double Feature (Bayview Entertainment, DVD)

  • Heather Wixson
    About the Author - Heather Wixson

    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.