August’s horror and sci-fi home media releases are kicking off with an eclectic, but fantastic bunch, led by Arrow Video’s special edition release of Alice, Sweet Alice. Raro Video is resurrecting Lucio Fulci’s Touch of Death this week, and if you happened to miss them earlier this year, both The Curse of La Llorona and Charlie Says will be hitting both formats on Tuesday.
Other notable Blu-ray and DVD releases arriving on August 6th include Room For Rent, The Reflecting Skin, St. Agatha, Division 19, Xenophobia, and Pentagram.
Alice, Sweet Alice: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)
A young Brooke Shields meets an untimely end in this religious-themed proto slasher par excellence from director Alfred Sole. On the day of her first communion, young Karen (Brooke Shields) is savagely murdered by an unknown assailant in a yellow rain mac and creepy translucent mask. But the nightmare is far from over - as the knife-wielding maniac strikes again and again, Karen’s bereaved parents are forced to confront the possibility that Karen’s wayward sister Alice might be the one behind the mask.
Bearing influences from the likes of Hitchcock, the then-booming Italian giallo film and more specifically, Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, Alice, Sweet Alice is an absolutely essential - if often overlooked - entry in the canon of 1970s American horror.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
Charlie Says (Shout! Factory, Blu-ray & DVD)
Years after the shocking murders that made the name Charles Manson synonymous with pure evil, the three women who killed for him — Leslie Van Houten (Hannah Murray, Game Of Thrones), Patricia Krenwinkel (Sosie Bacon, 13 Reasons Why), and Susan Atkins (Marianne Rendón, Imposters) — remain under the spell of the infamous cult leader (Matt Smith, Doctor Who, The Crown). Confined to an isolated cellblock in a California penitentiary, the trio seems destined to live out the rest of their lives under the delusion that their crimes were part of a cosmic plan — until empathetic graduate student Karlene Faith (Merritt Wever, Nurse Jackie) is enlisted to rehabilitate them. Convinced that the prisoners are not the inhuman monsters the world believes them to be, Karlene begins the arduous process of breaking down the psychological barriers erected by Manson. But are the women ready to confront the horror of what they did? Boundary pushing auteur Mary Harron (American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol) presents a provocative new perspective on one of the most notorious crimes of the 20th century.
The Curse of La Llorona (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Blu/DVD Combo & DVD)
The timeless Hispanic legend comes to terrifying life in “The Curse of La Llorona.” She is The Weeping Woman and those who hear her death call in the night are doomed. She creeps in the shadows and preys on the children, desperate to replace her own. In 1970s Los Angeles, La Llorona is stalking the night—and the children. Ignoring the eerie warning of a troubled mother suspected of child endangerment, a social worker and her own small kids are soon drawn into a frightening supernatural realm. Their only hope to survive La Llorona’s deadly wrath may be a disillusioned priest and the mysticism he practices to keep evil at bay, on the fringes where fear and faith collide.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- The Myth of La Llorona
- Behind the Curse
- The Making of a Movie Monster
- Deleted Scenes
The Reflecting Skin (Film Movement, Blu-ray & DVD)
An instant cult classic when it premiered to sold out screenings at Cannes in 1990, The Reflecting Skin is a darkly humorous, nightmarish vision of the American dream. Growing up in the 1950's in small-town Idaho, 8-year-old Seth and his friends play a prank on the town recluse, a mysterious English widow named Dolphin Blue (Tony-winner Lindsay Duncan). After his father tells him stories of vampires, Seth becomes convinced Dolphin is a vampire, stealing the souls of his neighborhood friends one by one. When his older brother Cameron (3-time Oscar-nominee Viggo Mortensen in one of his first starring roles), returns home from military service in the Pacific and takes a liking to Dolphin, Seth feels it's up to him to save Cameron from his friends' fate. With stunning visuals recalling Edward Hopper paintings and its surreal blend of horror and humor, The Reflecting Skin is a 'stunningly beautiful...Gothic masterpiece' (The Guardian).
Bonus features include Angels & Atom Bombs: The Making of The Reflecting Skin featurette, Director's commentary with writer/director Philip Ridley, and new essay by film writers Travis Crawford and Heather Hyche.
Room For Rent (Uncork’d Entertainment, DVD)
Lonely widow Joyce rents out a room to make easy money. She meets mysterious drifter Bob and takes him in as a long-term tenant. She becomes obsessed with her much younger guest, making him the object of her deepest romantic fantasies. When a friend's betrayal derails Joyce's fantasy world, she seizes control of her own destiny with a deadly mission to finally get what she deserves.
Touch of Death (Raro Video, Blu-ray)
A moody, middle-aged gigolo kills off women after he gets bored with dating them and uses their body parts for trophies and for consumption.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
3 Lives (High Octane Pictures, DVD)
American Killing (High Octane Pictures, DVD)
Cleavers: Killer Clowns (101 Films, DVD)
Division 19 (Uncork’d Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
The Manson Family Massacre (4Digital, DVD)
One Remains (Nandar, DVD)
Pentagram (4Digital, DVD)
St. Agatha (Uncork’d Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Xenophobia (4Digital, 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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