For this final week of home media releases in January, I hope everyone has prepared their wallets, because we have a lot to get excited about, especially if you’re a cult film fan.
Vinegar Syndrome is doing the dark lord’s work this Tuesday, as they are putting out four different titles, including Cutting Class, Splatter University, There’s Nothing Out There, and Uninvited. Severin is celebrating giallo filmmaking with their releases of All the Colors of Giallo and All the Colors of the Dark, Scream Factory is showing some love to Screamers, and if you missed it in theaters, you can also finally catch up with Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria on Blu-ray this week as well.
Other notable releases for January 29th include a new edition of Willow, Save Yourself, and Dead Silence (1989).
All the Colors of Giallo (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
'Giallo' is Italian for 'yellow', the color of the lurid pulp novels that inspired one of the most intense, extreme and influential genres in movie history. In this unprecedented collection, experience the full chronological evolution of giallo with more than 100 rare and classic trailers from such masters as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Martino, Antonio Margheriti, Umberto Lenzi and many more. Then slip on black leather gloves and set the mood with a Bonus CD of legendary soundtrack music from composers that include Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani, Bruno Nicolai, Stelvio Cipriani and others, along with all-new featurettes that thrust even deeper into the genre. "But be warned," says Gizmodo.com, "Once you start going down the blood- slicked giallo rabbit hole, you may become dangerously obsessed."
SPECIAL FEATURES:
DISC 1:
All the Colors of Giallo - A new feature length documentary by Federico Caddeo
The Giallo Frames - Interview with John Martin, editor of The Giallo Pages
Audio Commentary with Kat Ellinger, author of All the Colors of Sergio Martino
DISC 2:
DVD - The Case of the Krimi
Kriminal! - Trailer Compilation
The Case of the Krimi - Interview with film historian Marcus Stiglegger
DISC 3:
The Strange Sounds of the Bloodstained Films - Compiled By Alfonso Carillo of Rendezvous! from the archives of Beat Records. Remastered by Claudio Fuiano.
All the Colors of the Dark (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
Even by extreme '70s standards, it remains among the more notorious -and disturbing - thrillers in genre history. Now experience, "One of the most entertaining gialli you'll ever see," (10k Bullets) like you've never seen it before. The luscious Edwige Fenech (STRIP NUDE FOR YOUR KILLER) gives the performance of her career as a woman tormented by visions of satanic violence, hallucinatory horror and psychosexual insanity. George Hilton (THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH), Ivan Rassimov (EATEN ALIVE) and Susan Scott (EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS) co-star in this EuroShock masterpiece from director Sergio Martino (TORSO) and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (DEATH WALKS ON HIGH HEELS) - with "Possibly one of the best horror scores of all time," (Scream Magazine) by Bruno Nicolai - now featuring a new 4k scan from the original negative and throbbing with exclusive Special Features!
SPECIAL FEATURES:
They're Coming To Get You - Alternate US cut (88 mins.)
Color My Nightmare - Interview with Director Sergio Martino
Last of The Mohicans - Interview with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi
Giallo is the Color - Interviews with actor George Hilton and Italian horror expert Antonio Tentori
Audio Commentary with Kat Ellinger, author of All the Colors of Sergio Martino
Trailers
Cutting Class (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
Paula Carson's (Jill Schoelen, POPCORN) high school experience couldn't be better. Between being class president and dating her school's star basketball player, Dwight (Brad Pitt, SE7EN), she seems to have everything she could ask for. But when mentally disturbed teenage murderer Brian Wood (Donovan Leitch, THE BLOB) is released from an area asylum and rejoins his old classmates, it's not long before students and teachers alike turn up missing, or are found murdered. While Dwight becomes convinced that Brian's gone back to his violent ways, Paula can't help but suspect that someone might be trying to set Brian up to carry out their own twisted plan...
A distinctly tongue in cheek slasher made in the autumn of the genre's popularity, Rospo Pallenberg's (EXCALIBUR) CUTTING CLASS is a lavishly mounted and self-aware take on the genre's best loved tropes. Starring Brad Pitt in his first feature film leading role, and featuring Roddy McDowall (FRIGHT NIGHT) and Martin Mull (ROSEANNE), Vinegar Syndrome presents CUTTING CLASS on Blu-ray for the first time, newly restored in 4k from its original camera negative and in its uncut version, never before released in the United States.
Bonus Features:
1. Newly scanned & restored in 4k from its 35mm original camera negative
2. "Un-Cutting Class" - a video interview with lead actress Jill Schoelen
3. "Donovan Makes the Cut" - a video interview with actor Donovan Leitch
4. Audio interview with director Rospo Pallenberg
5. Audio interview with cinematographer Avi Karpick
6. Commentary track with The Hysteria Continues
7. Kill comparisons: unrated vs. R rated versions
8. Original theatrical trailer
9. Reversible cover artwork
10. English SDH subtitles
Splatter University (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
Years ago, a madman escaped from an asylum, slashing his way through to freedom and continuing his bloody rampage at nearby Saint Trinian's College. Now, years later, new teacher Julie Parker, begins to sense that something isn't quite right at the small-town college and it's not long before her students and fellow faculty members begin disappearing or, worse yet, are found brutally butchered. Determined to uncover the truth behind the ongoing violence, Julie begins her own investigation, unaware that she's putting herself at risk of becoming the ruthless murderer's next target.
A classic of no-budget horror filmmaking, Richard W. Haines' SPLATTER UNIVERSITY is a trashy and consciously absurd 80s slasher that revels in the best (and worst) tropes of the genre. Sporting bloody kills, absurd twists, and a face smacking finale, Vinegar Syndrome presents SPLATTER UNIVERSITY in its North American Blu-ray debut, sporting a brand new (and first ever) restoration from its original 16mm camera negative.
Bonus Features:
1. Newly scanned & restored in 2k from 16mm camera negative
2. Commentary track with director Richard W. Haines
3. Commentary with The Hysteria Continues!
4. Audio interview with composer Christopher Burke
5. Still gallery
6. Theme song
7. Script gallery
8. Radio spots
9. Original trailer
10. TV spot
11. Reversible cover artwork
12. English SDH subtitles
Screamers (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
The year is 2078. The man is rebel Alliance Commander Col. Joseph Hendrickson (Peter Weller), assigned to protect the Sirius 6B outpost from ravage and plunder at the hands of the New Economic Bloc. His state-of-the-art weaponry are known as Screamers; manmade killing devices programmed to eliminate all enemy life forms. Screamers travel underground; their intent to kill announced by piercing shrieks. They dissect their victims with precision, then eradicate all traces of the carnage. They are lethal. Effective. Tidy. And somehow, they are mutating … self-replicating into human form … and slaughtering every beating heart on the planet.
Bonus Features:
NEW Northern Frights – an interview with director Christian Duguay
NEW Orchestrating the Future – an interview with producer Tom Berry
NEW More Screamer Than Human – an interview with co-writer Miguel Tejada-Flores
NEW From Runaway to Space – an interview with actress Jennifer Rubin
Theatrical Trailer
Suspiria (2018) (Lionsgate, Blu/Digital Combo)
Young American dancer Susie Bannion arrives in 1970s Berlin to audition for the world-renowned Helena Markos Dance Company, stunning the troupe’s famed choreographer, Madame Blanc, with her raw talent. When she vaults to the role of lead dancer, Olga, the previous lead, breaks down and accuses the company’s female directors of being witches. As rehearsals intensify for the final performance of the company’s signature piece, Susie and Madame Blanc grow strangely close, suggesting that Susie’s purpose in the company goes beyond merely dancing. Meanwhile, an inquisitive psychotherapist trying to uncover the company’s dark secrets enlists the help of another dancer, who probes the depths of the studio’s hidden underground chambers, where horrific discoveries await.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Making of Suspiria” Featurette
“The Secret Language of Dance” Featurette
“The Transformations of Suspiria” Featurette
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
Dead Silence: Limited Edition (SRS Cinema, Blu-ray)
Save Yourself (Ammo Content, LLC., DVD)
There’s Nothing Out There (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
Uninvited (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
Willow (Lucasfilm, Blu/Digital & DVD/Digital)
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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