Get ready, campers! It’s a big week for all you Angela Baker fans out there as this Tuesday the good folks at Scream Factory are releasing Collector’s Edition Blu-ray/DVDs for the first two Sleepaway Camp sequels: Unhappy Campers and Teenage Wasteland.
June 9th will also be the day that two great cult classics—Society and Spider Baby—are being celebrated with their very own Special Edition releases from Arrow Video. The folks at Turner Classic Movies are giving The Hunchback of Notre Dame a high-def upgrade as well. And as if all that wasn’t enough, TV lovers have The Strain Season 1 Collector's Edition Blu-ray Box Set (available exclusively on Amazon ahead of a July 14th wide home media release) and Teen Wolf Season 4 to look forward to, and we also have a ton of indie horror titles coming to DVD and Blu-ray, including Debug, Strange Blood, Babysitter Wanted and American Backwoods: Slew Hampshire.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Turner Classic Movies, Blu-ray)
Charles Laughton endured a daily five-and-a-half-hour makeup session to become Quasimodo, the mocked and vilified bellringer of Notre Dame. The result was one of his best performances: outsized yet nuanced, heartrending yet inspiring. Maureen O'Hara is the gypsy Esmeralda, whose simple act of pity frees the emotions within him. When she is wrongly condemned, he rescues her from hanging, sweeping all of Paris into a fight for justice.
Special Features Include NEW! The Lone Stranger and Porky - Vintage1939 WB Cartoon, Drunk Driving – Vintage 1939 MGM Short, Interview with Maureen O'Hara and Theatrical Trailer.
Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers — Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory, Blu/DVD Combo)
Welcome to Camp Rolling Hills! Meet your camp counselor, Angela Baker! She’s the kind of counselor who enjoys camp songs, nature walks, board games and… murder.
Five years after the horrific slaughter at Camp Arawak, Angela (Pamela Springsteen, Fast Times at Ridgemont High) has created a new position for herself as a counselor at Camp Rolling Hills. Angela is about to teach "bad campers", a brutal lesson in survival when they are sliced, stabbed, drilled… and much worse. Renée Estevez (Heathers, Intruder) and Walter Gotell (The Spy Who Loved Me) co-star in this outrageous sequel to the original cult classic.
Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland — Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory, Blu/DVD Combo)
Welcome to Camp New Horizons, where an autumn retreat brings together a group of obnoxious rich kids and surly city thugs for an "experiment in sharing. ", Under new inept management, this is the ideal setting for notorious psychopath Angela Baker (Pamela Springsteen, Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers) to join the camp and do what she does best: eliminating "immoral", teenagers with everything from a knife to a lawnmower. Michael J. Pollard (House of 1000 Corpses, Bonnie & Clyde), Tracy Griffith (Fear City, The First Power) and Jill Terashita (Night of the Demons) co-star in this third installment of the cult series.
Society Two-Disc Limited Edition Box Set (Arrow Video, Blu/DVD)
After producing Stuart Gordon’s hit Re-Animator, Brian Yuzna (Bride of Re-Animator, Return of the Living Dead III) turned his hand to directing with 1989’s Society, and gave birth to one of the ickiest, most original body horror shockers of all time.
Teenager Bill Whitney (Billy Warlock) has always felt like the odd one out in his wealthy, upper-class Beverly Hills family. For some reason, he just doesn’t seem to fit in. But his sense of alienation takes a sinister turn when he hears an audio recording of his sister’s coming-out party, which seems to implicate his family and others in a bizarre, ritualistic orgy. And then there are the strange things he’s been seeing – glimpses of people with their bodies contorted impossibly out of shape… Is Bill going mad or is there something seriously amiss in his neighborhood?
Packing stomach-churning grue and thought-provoking social commentary in equal measure, Society is a biting horror satire which culminates in one of the most gag-inducing “climaxes”’ in all of horror history.
Special Features Include Newly remastered 2K digital transfer of the film, approved by director Brian Yuzna, High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation, Original Stereo 2.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray), Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, Brand new audio commentary by Yuzna, Governor of Society - a brand new interview with Yuzna, The Masters of the Hunt - a brand new featurette including interviews with stars Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Ben Meyerson and Tim Bartell, The Champion of the Shunt - new featurette with FX artists Screaming Mad George, David Grasso and Nick Benson, 2014 Q&A with Yuzna, recorded at Celluloid Screams Festival, Brian Yuzna in conversation backstage at the Society world premiere, 'Persecution Mania' - Screaming Mad George music video, Limited Edition Digipak packaging featuring newly-commissioned artwork by Nick Percival, Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic Alan Jones, illustrated with original archive stills and posters, and Society: Party Animal [Limited Edition Exclusive] - the official comic sequel to Society, reproduced in its entirety in a perfect-bound book.
Spider Baby Two-Disc Limited Edition Box Set (Arrow Video, Blu/DVD)
The credits dub this “the maddest story ever told”, a promise that’s well on the way to being fulfilled in the opening scene alone, when Virginia traps and kills a hapless deliveryman in her makeshift web. She’s one of three siblings who suffer from a unique genetic disorder that causes them to regress back to childhood, while retaining the physical strength and sexual maturity of adults.
Lon Chaney Jr gave one of his most memorable late performances as Bruno, their guardian and protector, who has managed to cover up their crimes until two distant relatives lay claim to their house. When they insist on moving in, Bruno has to cross his fingers and hope that the ‘children’ behave towards their new guests…
This was the first solo feature by Jack Hill, whom Quentin Tarantino dubbed “the Howard Hawks of exploitation filmmaking”, and it remains one of his wildest and weirdest.
Special Features Include High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the main feature, available in the UK for the first time, Original 2.0 Mono Audio (Uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray), High Definition transfer of the feature supervised and approved by director Jack Hill, English SDH subtitles for deaf and hearing impaired, Audio commentary featuring Jack Hill and star Sid Haig, Panel discussion from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences FILM-TO-FILM Festival, recorded September 2012, featuring Jack Hill and stars Quinn K. Redeker and Beverly Washburn, The Hatching of Spider Baby - Interviews with Jack Hill, Sid Haig, star Mary Mitchel, fan Joe Dante and more on the making of the film, Spider Stravinsky: The Cinema Sounds of Ronald Stein - The composer of 'The Terror' and 'Attack of the 50 Foot Woman' among others is remembered by Harlene Stein, Jack Hill, American Cinematheque's Chris D. and others, The Merrye House Revisited - Jack Hill revisits the original house that was used as the main location in the film, Alternate opening title sequence, Extended scene, Original Trailer, Gallery of behind-the-scenes images, The Host (1960) - Jack Hill's early short film featuring Sid Haig in his first starring role [30 mins], Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and Collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by artist and writer Stephen R. Bissette, and an extensive article re-printed from FilmFax: The Magazine of Unusual Film and Television featuring interviews with the cast and crew.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
American Backwoods: Slew Hampshire (Midnight Releasing, DVD)
Anthropophagus 2000 (Massacre Video, DVD)
Babysitter Wanted (Big Screen Entertainment, DVD)
Debug (Ketchup, DVD)
F/X (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Project Almanac (Paramount, Blu/DVD/Digital & DVD/Digital)
She-Devil (Olive Films, Blu-ray)
The Sisterhood of Night (Freestyle Digital Media, DVD)
The Strain: Season One Collector’s Edition Box Set (20th Century Fox, Blu-ray)
Strange Blood (XLRator Media, DVD)
Teen Wolf: Season Four (MGM Video & DVD, 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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