April 9th is set to be a fun day for cult film fans (but perhaps a bad day for their bank accounts), as we have tons of great titles headed to Blu-ray and DVD this week. Scream Factory is bringing The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires home on Tuesday, and for you giallo aficionados out there, you’ll definitely want to add The Iguana With The Tongue of Fire to your personal collections as well. AGFA is resurrecting Blood Lake this week, and Severin is keeping busy with their impressive Hemisphere Box of Horrors set as well (all three titles can be purchased separately, too).
Other notable home media releases for April 9th include Moon Child, The Amityville Murders, Matriarch, and The La Llorona Curse.
Blood Lake: Special Edition (AGFA, DVD)
BLOOD LAKE is the most fascinating -- and stupefying -- shot-on-video slasher that ever escaped from 1987. A group of unhinged party animals, including adolescent horn-dog Lil' Tony, embark on a weekend trip filled with Jet Skis, a keg of Busch, and an extended game of quarters. But look out! There's a supernatural killer on the loose who wears cowboy boots and a silk shirt with a rose stitched on it! Made by real-life friends from Oklahoma on a real-life vacation, BLOOD LAKE is a rewardingly lethal collision of '80s slasher video-vomit and twisted cinéma vérité madness. From false metal soundtrack hits to gratuitous scenes of people sleeping, this might be the only movie in history capable of receiving a stamp of approval from both David Lee Roth and Andy Warhol.
BONUS FEATURES:
Hemisphere Box of Horrors (Severin Films, Blu-ray)
Though best known for their legendary BLOOD ISLAND Trilogy, the Philippine/U.S. production/distribution company Hemisphere Pictures was also responsible for some of the most provocative and insane films of the '60s and '70s drive-in/grindhouse era. THE BLOOD DRINKERS and CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES are the still-potent masterpieces from The Father of Philippine Horror Gerry de Leon. BRAIN OF BLOOD is the all-star Grade Z classic from infamous exploitation auteur Al Adamson. THE BLACK CAT and TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM - starring Christopher Lee and Tarzan - are Hemisphere's two most extreme acquisitions for the company's notorious double-feature packages. The films in this collection have all been newly scanned in 2K/4K from the best - and often only - complete elements available.
HEMISHPERE BOX OF HORRORS is a limited, numbered edition release of only 3500 units.
Special Features:
Disc 1 - THE BLOOD DRINKERS:
Manong of the Philippines: Interview with Script Supervisor and Gerry De Leon's AD Dik Trofeo.
Hemisphere Appreciation by Filmmaker David DeCoteau.
Audio Commentary with Film Historians Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger.
Partial Audio Commentary with Hemisphere Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman.
Deleted Scenes.
BLOOD DRINKERS Trailer.
VAMPIRE PEOPLE Trailer.
Radio Spot.
Disc 2 - CURSE OF THE VAMPIRE:
Cursed Vampire: Interview with Actor Eddie Garcia.
The Market of Hemisphere: Interview with Marketing Consultant Samuel M. Sherman.
Audio Commentary with Philippine Genre Documentarian Andrew Leavold.
Partial Audio Commentary with Sam Sherman.
Deleted Scenes.
Trailers.
BEAST OF BLOOD / CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES radio spot.
Disc 3 - BRAIN OF BLOOD:
Memories Of Blood: Interviews With Director Al Adamson, Producer Samuel M. Sherman, Associate Producer J. P. Spohn, Actor Zandor Vorkov, Actor Sean Graver, and Filmmaker Fred Olen Ray.
Parital Audio Commentary with Producer / Co-Writer Samuel M. Sherman.
Trailer.
Radio Spot.
Disc 4 - THE BLACK CAT / TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM: *BOX SET EXCLUSIVE!*
BLOOD DEMON Trailer.
BLACK CAT Trailer.
The Iguana With The Tongue of Fire: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)
One of several animal-in-the-title cash-ins released in the wake of Dario Argento’s box-office smash The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is a gloriously excessive giallo that boasts a rogues gallery of perverse characters; violent, fetishized murders, and one of the genre s most nonsensical, red-herring laden plots (which sees almost every incidental character hinted at potentially being the killer).
Set in Dublin (a rather surprising giallo setting), Iguana opens audaciously with an acid-throwing, razor-wielding maniac brutally slaying a woman in her own home. The victim’s mangled corpse is discovered in a limousine owned by Swiss Ambassador Sobiesky (Anton Diffring, Where Eagles Dare) and a police investigation is launched, but when the murdering continues and the ambassador claims diplomatic immunity, tough ex-cop John Norton (Luigi Pistilli, A Bay of Blood) is brought in to find the killer...
Benefitting from a sumptuous score by Stelvio Cipriani (Nightmare City, Death Walks on High Heels) and exuberant supporting performances from Valentina Cortese (The Possessed, Thieves' Highway) and Dagmar Lassander (The Frightened Woman, The Black Cat), The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire is a luridly over-the-top latter-day entry in the filmography of acclaimed director Riccardo Freda (Caltiki The Immortal Monster, Murder Obsession). An archetypal giallo from the genre’s heyday, Freda’s film is presented here in a stunning new restoration with a host of newly produced extras.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing) and Count Dracula (John Forbes-Robinson) meet again in this spectacular kung fu horror thriller set in the village of Ping Kuei. After learning about the seven golden vampires of the village, Hsi Ching (David Chiang), Vanessa Buren (Julie Ege) and Mai Kwei (Szu Shih) offer to guide Van Helsing and his son to Ping Kuei to free it from the curse of Count Dracula.
Throughout their journey, the group encounters several unwanted attackers until they arrive at the golden vampires’ derelict temple, inhabited by Count Dracula. In the temple, Van Helsing and the count begin a fearsome battle to the death an ultimate clash between good and evil!
Presented here for the first time in high definition is Hammer’s original uncut version. It was released in the US in an edited version called The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula, which is also included here in high definition as a bonus feature.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NEW 2K Scan Of The Original Film Elements
NEW Audio Commentary With Author/Film Historian Bruce G. Hallenbeck
NEW When Hammer Met Shaw – An Interview With Actor David Chiang
NEW Kung Fear – An Interview With Hong Kong Film Expert Rick Baker
Alternate U.S. Theatrical Version – The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula (In HD With Some Standard Definition Inserts)
Theatrical Trailers
TV Spot
Still Gallery
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
8 Ball Clown (Chemical Burn, DVD)
The Amityville Murders (Skyline Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
The Blood Drinkers (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
Brain of Blood (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
Curse of the Vampires (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
The La Llorona Curse (Wild Eye Releasing, DVD)
Matriarch (Lionsgate, DVD)
Moon Child (Cult Epics, Blu/DVD Combo)
Strange Nature (Cinedigm, Blu-ray & 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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