It’s almost time, dear readers! Halloween is nearly upon us, and we have one last batch of killer Blu-ray and DVD releases to get us ready for All Hallows’ Eve this week. One of the best films of 2018—Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy —arrives on both formats this Tuesday, courtesy of RLJE Films, and both Slender Man and Our House come home as well. The Matrix Trilogy is getting a much-deserved 4K treatment from Warner Bros., and a series that I really enjoyed back in the day—Chillers, hosted by Anthony Perkins—is headed to DVD, and I’m so excited to get the opportunity to finally revisit it.
Cult film fans will definitely want to pick up a copy of the Special Edition of Torso from Arrow Video, and Vinegar Syndrome is doing the Dark Lord’s work with a quartet of releases they have on tap as well, including The Incubus, The Killing Kind, Blood Harvest, and Def by Temptation. Other notable releases for October 30th include American Exorcist, The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre, and the complete first season of Charmed.
Chillers: The Complete Series (Mill Creek Entertainment, DVD/Digital)
Golden Globe® winner Anthony Perkins (Psycho) delves into the darkest depths of human nature as the host of CHILLERS, a deliciously evil anthology series based on Patricia Highsmith's hair-raising short stories.
Featuring a stellar cast including Ian McShane, Tuesday Weld, Ian Holm, Bill Nighy, Ian Richardson, Marisa Berenson, and more - imagine tales so bone-chilling cold, you'll beg for a warm bed to hide under.
Contents:
Episode 1: The Cat Brought It In
Episode 2: Sauce for the Goose
Episode 3: Old Folks at Home
Episode 4: The Thrill Seeker
Episode 5: The Day of Reckoning
Episode 6: Puzzle
Episode 7: Slowly, Slowly in the Wind
Episode 8: A Curious Suicide
Episode 9: A Bird Poised to Fly
Episode 10: The Stuff of Madness
Episode 11: Under a Dark Angel's Eye
Episode 12: Something You Have to Live With
The Incubus (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
A quiet New England town becomes the site of a grisly murder and assault, leaving a young man dead and his girlfriend in critical condition. Sam Cordell, head surgeon and medical examiner at the local hospital, senses something isn't quite normal about the attacker, but barely a day later, another woman is savagely assaulted and killed. With the realization that a maniac is on the loose, Sam, with the help of police chief Hank Walden and newspaper columnist Laura Kincaid, must unravel the mystery before additional murders occur, all the while unaware that Sam's own daughter, Jenny, might be next on the victim list...
An intense and disturbing supernatural slasher, John Hough's (LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, AMERICAN GOTHIC) THE INCUBUS stars acclaimed actor and filmmaker John Cassavetes (A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE), John Ireland (THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME) and Kerrie Keane (SPASMS) in her feature film debut. Stylishly photographed by Albert J. Dunk (CLASS OF 1984) and scored by Stanley Meyers (THE DEER HUNTER), Vinegar Syndrome brings this 80s terror classic to Blu-ray for the first time.
Bonus Features:
1. Newly scanned & restored in 4k, mostly from its 35mm negative, with one reel sourced from a 35mm print
2. Interview with director John Hough
3. Interview with lead actress Kerrie Keane
4. Interview with cinematographer Albert J. Dunk
5. Trims and alternate shots
6. Original theatrical trailer
7. TV spots
8. Commentary track with The Hysteria Continues!
9. Reversible cover artwork
10. English SDH subtitles
Mandy (RLJE Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
Pacific Northwest. 1983 AD. Outsiders Red Miller and Mandy Bloom lead a loving and peaceful existence. When their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed by a cult led by the sadistic Jeremiah Sand, Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.
Bonus Features:
Our House (Scream Factory/IFC Midnight, Blu-ray & DVD)
When his parents are killed in a car accident, science wiz Ethan (Thomas Mann, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl) must leave college and his girlfriend (Nicola Peltz, Transformers: Age Of Extinction) behind to care for his younger brother and sister. By day, he juggles the responsibilities of raising two kids; by night, he tinkers in the garage on an invention he hopes will change the world: a machine that can generate wireless electricity. However, he gets more than he bargained for when the device awakens the dead souls that haunt the house. As Ethan and his siblings attempt to make contact with their parents, a horrifying realization sets in: not all the spirits in their midst may be friendly. This hair-raising science-fiction ghost story is a fast-paced nightmare journey into a past that refuses to stay dead and buried.
Slender Man (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Blu/Digital & DVD)
In a small town in Massachusetts, a group of friends, fascinated by the internet lore of the SLENDER MAN, attempt to prove that he doesn't actually exist - until one of them mysteriously goes missing.
Directed by Sylvain White and written by David Birke based on a character created by Victor Surge, SLENDER MAN was produced by Bradley J. Fischer, James Vanderbilt, William Sherak, Robyn Meisinger and Sarah Snow; and executive produced by Louis Sallerson, Tracey Nyberg, Adam Kolbrenner, Ryan Cunningham and Glenn S. Gainor.
Special Features:
“Summoning Slender Man: Meet the Cast” featurette
Torso: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)
A talented and versatile journeyman, director Sergio Martino (The Case of the Scorpion's Tail, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) has lent his talents to multiple genres across his long and varied career, but it is undoubtedly his giallo thrillers from the early 70s for which he is best known. Among the most highly acclaimed of these, 1973's Torso revels in the genre's time-honored traditions while simultaneously laying the groundwork for the modern slasher movie.
A sex maniac is prowling the streets of Perugia, targeting picturesque university town's female students. Alarmed at plummeting life expectancy of the student body, Jane (Suzy Kendall, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) and her three friends elope to a secluded country villa only to discover that, far from having left the terror behind, they've brought it with them!
Also known as ''Carnal Violence,” Torso was released in Italy towards the end of the giallo boom before enjoying a second life on the American grindhouse circuit. Co-starring Tina Aumont (Salon Kitty) and Luc Merenda (The Violent Professionals), the film finds its director at the top of his game, delivering copious levels of violence, sleaze and one of the tensest cat-and-mouse games ever committed to celluloid!
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
* The English audio track on the original, longer cut has some portions of English audio missing. English audio for these sections was either never recorded or has been lost. As such, these sequences are presented with Italian audio, subtitled in English.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
American Exorcist (Gravitas Ventures, Blu-ray & DVD)
Blood Harvest (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
Charmed: The Complete First Season (Paramount, Blu-ray)
Def by Temptation (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
The Ghost of Sierra de Cobre (Kino Lorber Studio Classics, Blu-ray)
The Killing Kind (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
The Matrix Trilogy 4K (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu/Digital Combo)
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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