July 11th is chock-full of some stellar cult classic releases on Blu-ray and DVD, so hopefully you guys have been saving your pennies. Scream Factory is keeping busy with a trio of titles, including The Man From Planet X, a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray for Species, and Sex Doll. Arrow Video has put together a stunning special edition set for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse that you’ll definitely want to add to your home media collections, and both The Fifth Element and Peter Jackson’s King Kong are getting a 4K release, too.
Other notable titles for July 11th include Star Crystal, Vampire Cop, The Blessed Ones, Devil’s Domain, The Magicians: Season Two and a Don’t Look in the Basement/Don’t Look in the Basement 2 double feature.
The Man From Planet X (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
From the farthest reaches of space it came … is it friend or foe?
After a ship from a distant world lands on the moors of Scotland, intrepid reporter John Lawrence (Robert Clarke, The Hideous Sun Demon) and the brilliant Professor Elliot (Raymond Bond) set out to investigate. Their journey brings them face to face with the ship’s pilot: an alien from a dying planet that pleads for their aid. But Elliot’s unscrupulous colleague Dr. Mears (William Schallert, The Patty Duke Show) has other plans entirely for the interplanetary visitor: plans that could decide the fate of two worlds.
Also starring David Ormont and Margaret Field, The Man From Planet X is pure 50’s drive-in goodness, straight from B-movie master Edgar G. Ulmer (The Black Cat, Detour).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Pulse: 2-Disc Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu/DVD Combo)
Award-winning filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa delivered one of the finest entries in the "J-Horror" cycle of films with this moody and spiritually terrifying film that delivers existential dread along with its frights. Setting his story in the burgeoning internet and social media scene in Japan, Kurosawa's dark and apocalyptic film foretells how technology will only serve to isolate us as it grows more important to our lives.
A group of young people in Tokyo begin to experience strange phenomena involving missing co-workers and friends, technological breakdown, and a mysterious website which asks the compelling question, "Do you want to meet a ghost?" After the unexpected suicides of several friends, three strangers set out to explore a city which is growing more empty by the day, and to solve the mystery of what lies within a forbidden room in an abandoned construction site, mysteriously sealed shut with red packing tape.
Featuring haunting cinematography by Junichiro Hayashi (Ring, Dark Water), a dark and unsettling tone which lingers long after the movie is over, and an ahead-of-its-time story which anticipates 21st century disconnection and social media malaise, Pulse is one of the greatest and most terrifying achievements in modern Japanese horror, and a dark mirror for our contemporary digital world.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
Species: Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Charged with pulse-pounding suspense, ingenious special effects from Richard Edlund and a first-rate cast including Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, Alfred Molina, Forest Whitaker, Marg Helgenberger and introducing Natasha Henstridge, Species is an adrenaline-charged thrill-ride you’ll never forget.
When a beautiful human-alien hybrid (Henstridge) escapes from observation, scientist Xavier Fitch (Kingsley) dispatches a crew of experts to find her before she is able to fulfill her horrific purpose: to mate with unsuspecting men and produce offspring that could destroy mankind. As her deadly biological clock ticks rapidly, Fitch and his team are hurled into a desperate battle in which the fate of humanity itself hangs in the balance!
Disc One:
• NEW 4K scan of the film’s inter-positive
• Audio Commentary with Natasha Henstridge, Michael Madsen and director Roger Donaldson
• Audio Commentary with director Roger Donaldson, make-up effects creator Steve Johnson, visual effects supervisor Richard Edlund and producer Frank Mancuso Jr.
Disc Two:
• NEW Afterbirth: The Evolution of SPECIES featuring interviews with director Roger Donaldson, cinematographer Andzej Bartkowiak, production designer John Muto, composer Christopher Young, creature designer Steve Johnson, chrysalis supervisor Billy Bryan and “Sil” creature supervisor Norman Cabrera
• From Sil To Eve – an interview with actress Natasha Henstridge
• Engineering Life
• HR Giger At Work
• The Making Of Species: The Origin, The Concept, The Discovery
• Designing A Hybrid
• Theatrical Trailer
• Alternate Ending
• Photo Galleries (Production Design, Creature Designs, Film Stills, Behind the Scenes photos, posters and lobby cards)
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
5150 (Gravitas Ventures, Blu-ray & DVD)
The Black Room (Cleopatra Entertainment, Blu-ray)
The Blessed Ones (Wild Eye Releasing, DVD)
Curse of the Crimson Altar (Cheezy Movies, DVD)
Devil’s Domain (Cleopatra Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Don’t Look in the Basement/Don’t Look in the Basement 2 (Brink Vision, Blu-ray)
The Fifth Element: 20th Anniversary Edition (Sony Pictures, 4K Ultra HD/Blu/Digital HD Combo)
Jack Hunter’s Paranoia Tapes (Shami Media Group, DVD)
King Kong: Ultimate Edition (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu/Digital HD Combo)
The Magicians: Season Two (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Ogroff: Mad Mutilator (MVD Visual, DVD)
Science Crazed (MVD Visual, DVD)
Sex Doll (Scream Factory/IFC Midnight, Blu-ray & DVD)
Star Crystal (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray & DVD)
Vampire Cop (SRS Cinema, 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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