We’ve got a ton of great titles on the docket for this final week of home media releases in August. Michael Dougherty’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters is hitting various formats on Tuesday, and if you’re looking for some oddball entertainment, The Banana Splits Movie should undoubtedly do the trick. For all you sci-fi fans out there, the classic V miniseries is finally making its way to Blu, and Scream Factory is also giving both The Leech Woman and Fear in the Night the HD treatment as well.
Vinegar Syndrome is showing some love to Hell Comes to Frogtown this week, and the Warner Archive Collection is bringing home several of their films on DVD, including Wolfen, Of Unknown Origin, The Hand, and Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. Also, one of the more disturbing psychological thrillers I’ve seen in some time, Ladyworld, is being released on DVD on August 27th, and it’s a movie that I first saw over a year ago now, and I still haven’t been able to shake it off after all this time.
The Banana Splits Movie (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
When the infamous rock band discovers that their show is being cancelled, they violently lash out taking matters into their own hands!
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Fear in the Night (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Recovering from a recent nervous breakdown, a young woman (Judy Geeson, Hammerhead) moves with her new husband (Ralph Bates, Horror Of Frankenstein) to a rural boarding school where she meets the peculiar headmaster (horror film icon Peter Cushing) and his lusty wife (Joan Collins, Empire Of The Ants). When the fragile newlywed is repeatedly stalked and assaulted by a one-armed man, her terror escalates to a frenzy of madness and murder ... or does it? If she can survive one night of fear, then the morning promises an even more shocking surprise!
Bonus Features:
- Presented In Two Aspect Ratios – 1.66:1 And 1.85:1
- NEW Audio Commentary With Film Historian Troy Howarth
- Audio Commentary With Co-writer/Producer/Director Jimmy Sangster And Hammer Film Historian Marcus Hearn
- Vintage Interview With Co-writer/Producer/Director Jimmy Sangster
- End Of Term: Inside FEAR IN THE NIGHT
- Theatrical Trailer
- Still Gallery
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu Combo, Blu/Digital & DVD)
The new story follows the heroic efforts of the crypto-zoological agency Monarch as its members face off against a battery of god-sized monsters, including the mighty Godzilla, who collides with Mothra, Rodan and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed Ghidorah. When these ancient super-species—thought to be mere myths—rise again, they all vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.
Special Features:
- Commentary by Director
- Godzilla: Nature’s Fearsome Guardian
- Mothra: Queen of the Monsters
- King Ghidorah: The Living Extinction Machine
- Rodan: Airborne God of Fire
- Godzilla 2.0
- Making Morthra
- Creating Ghidorah
- Reimagining Rodan
- The Yunnan Temple
- Castle Bravo
- The Antarctic Base
- The Isla de Mara Volcano
- The Undersea Lair
- Millie Bobby Brown: Force of Nature
- Monster Tech: Monarch Joins the Fight
- Monsters Are Real
- Welcome to the Monsterverse
- Deleted Scenes
Hell Comes to Frogtown (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
In a post-nuclear holocaust wasteland, Sam Hell ("Rowdy" Roddy Piper) is like most other survivors; a nomadic scavenger roaming the bombed out remnants of the world for food and survival gear. But Sam is also harboring a major secret that even he isn't aware of: he's the last fertile man on Earth. As unexpected pregnancies are discovered, the remnants of the government decide to capture him and, with the aid of scientist Spangle, fit him with a secure chastity belt to ensure his virility is used only when needed. After learning of a group of supposed virgins who are being held captive by frog-mutant savages, Sam is sent on a rescue mission to free the women and then, of course, impregnate them. Is he up for the job? You bet...
An 'only in the 80s' hybrid of post apocalyptic sci-fi weirdness, cynical humor, and horror touches, director Donald G. Jackson's HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN is every bit as crazy as its title implies. Co-starring Sandahl Bergman(Conan the Barbarian), Rory Calhoun (Angel), and featuring a supporting performance from Nicholas Worth (Don't Answer the Phone), Vinegar Syndrome presents HELL COMES TO FROGTOWN on Blu-ray in North America for the first time, in a brand new, 4k restoration.
Bonus Features:
1. Region Free Blu-ray/DVD combo
2. Newly scanned & restored in 4k from its 35mm interpositive
3. Audio commentary with cinematographer/director Donald G. Jackson and writer/producer Randall Frakes
4. "Mean and Green" - a video interview with Randall Frakes
5. "Grappling with Green Gargantuans" - a video interview with lead actor "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
6. "Amphibian Armageddon" - a video interview with actor Brian Frank
7. "Creature Feature Creator" - a video interview with f/x artist Steve Wang
8. Extended Scene
9. Theatrical Trailer
10. Reversible cover artwork
11. English SDH subtitles
Ladyworld (Cleopatra Entertainment, DVD)
Eight teenage girls become trapped in an endless birthday party after a massive (imaginary?) earthquake. The girls' sanity and psyches dissolve as they run out of food and water. Eventually, they regress to their baser instincts, exploiting each other's fears and insecurities. This critically acclaimed thriller features a great cast that includes Maya Hawke (Stranger Things), Ariela Barer (Runaways), Annalise Basso (Ouija: Origin of Evil), Ryan Simpkins (A Single Man) and Odessa Aldon (Nashville).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Slide show / Image Gallery
Trailers
The Leech Woman (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Hoping to discover the secret to eternal youth, Dr. Paul Talbot (Phillip Terry, The Lost Weekend) drags his long-suffering wife, June (Coleen Gray, The Killing), to follow him to Africa. When captured by natives, they witness the shocking metamorphosis of one of the old women into a young girl. But this "magic" is short-lived ... and, as the Talbots soon learn, requires a male sacrifice!
After Talbot forces his wife to make the transformation, she turns the tables on their tortured marriage and heads back to New York, a voluptuous recreation of her former self. But her beauty cannot last ... at least not without a healthy supply of male victims!
Bonus Features:
- NEW 2K Scan Of The 35mm Fine Grain Composite
- NEW Audio Commentary With Author/Film Historian Tom Weaver, Film Music Historian David Schecter, Author/Film Historian Alan K. Rode With Archival Audio Interview With Actress Coleen Gray
- Theatrical Trailers
- Still Gallery
V: The Original Miniseries (Warner Archives Collection, Blu-ray)
Fifty spaceships, each three miles across, hover ominously above Earth’s major cities. The Visitors that emerge are humanlike in appearance and extend the hand of friendship. Our planet s resources are just what these aliens need to survive. And for its future survival, unsuspecting humankind will need...a miracle! Kenneth Johnson’s science-fiction spectacular mixes dynamic special effects with cliffhanger thrills. As fascist rule enslaves the globe, freedom fighters battle to save our species. Marc Singer heads an epic-sized cast of human defenders and behind sleek uniforms and benevolent behavior reptilian invaders. For unparalleled extraterrestrial excitement, the invaders of V are unstoppable.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
The 16th Episode (Gravitas Ventures, Blu-ray & DVD)
Big Top Evil (Gravitas Ventures, Blu-ray & DVD)
Doll Factory (Wild Eye Releasing, DVD)
Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (Warner Archive Collection, DVD)
Family Covenant (Shami Productions, DVD)
The Hand (Warner Archive Collection, DVD)
Of Unknown Origin (Warner Archive Collection, DVD)
Wolfen (Warner Archive Collection, 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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