Cult film fans have many reasons to rejoice on August 16th, as we have several fantastic titles making their way home in HD this week. Shout! Factory is putting out a Collector’s Edition release of Buckaroo Banzai and Arrow Video is cooking up a Special Edition of Microwave Massacre this Tuesday as well.
For those of you who are fans of Brad Anderson’s criminally underrated Session 9, Scream Factory is putting out a Blu-ray that you’ll undoubtedly want to add to your home collections. And Kino Lorber is keeping busy this week, too, with an HD release of Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?
Other notable releases include Restoration, Hotel Hell, Sharkenstein, The Ladies of the House, and Urban Cannibal Massacre.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension: Collector’s Edition (Shout Factory, Blu-ray)
Expect the unexpected… he does. Neurosurgeon. Physicist. Rock Star. Hero. Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller, Robocop) is a true 80s renaissance man. With the help of his uniquely qualified team, The Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroo is ready to save the world on a moment's notice. But after his successful test of the Oscillation Overthruster (a device that allows him to travel through solid matter) he unleashes the threat of evil, pure and simple from the 8th Dimension… the alien Red Lectroids.
Led by the deranged dictator Lord John Whorfin (John Lithgow), the Lectroids steal the Overthruster with the intent of using it to return to their home of Planet 10 real soon! But no matter where you go, there Buckaroo Banzai is… ready to battle an interdimensional menace that could spell doom for the human race.
How can Buckaroo stop the Lectroids’ fiendish plots? Who is the mysterious Penny Priddy? Why is there a watermelon there? For the answers to these and other questions, you have to watch The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, monkey boy!
Featuring Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, and Clancy Brown, Buckaroo Banzai is a cleverly crazed cult classic as only the 80s could deliver.
Special Features Include:
Disc 1 (Blu-ray):
-“Into The 8th Dimension: A Two-Hour Retrospective Documentary” including Brand-New Interviews With The Cast And Crew
-Audio Commentary With Michael And Denise Okuda
-Audio Commentary With Director W.D. Richter And Writer Earl Mac Rauch
Disc 2 (DVD):
-Buckaroo Banzai Declassified Featurette
-Alternate Opening Sequence (with Jamie Lee Curtis)
-Deleted Scenes
-“Jet Car” Trailer
-Theatrical Trailer
Microwave Massacre: Two-Disc Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray/DVD Combo)
THEY CAME FOR DINNER...TO FIND THEY WERE IT!! Microwave Massacre stars legendary stand-up comedian and actor Jackie Vernon (the voice of Frosty The Snowman from the beloved animated Rankin / Bass classic animated holiday special) as Donald, a disgruntled construction worker whose wife’s predilection for haute cuisine drives him to cannibalism.
Donald unwittingly stumbles upon a solution to his two major problems in his life – his nagging wife and his lack of tasty meals when, one night, he bludgeons his better half to death with a pepper grinder in a drunken rage. Thinking on his feet, Donald dismembers the body and sets about microwaving the remains, which turn out to be rather delicious. Trouble is, now he’s got a taste for human flesh that needs satisfying...
Eschewing all notions of good taste, Wayne Berwick’s Microwave Massacre is a deliciously depraved exercise in political incorrectness that has gone on to gain a cult following thanks to a characteristically deadpan performance from lead Vernon, who delivers such choice lines as “I’m so hungry, I could eat a whore . Vegetarians need not apply!”
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
First pressing only: fully-illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Nightmare USA author Stephen Thrower
Session 9 (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
It looms up out of the woods like a dormant beast. Grand, imposing... abandoned and deteriorating, the Danvers State Mental Hospital, closed down for 15 years is about to receive 5 new visitors. Donning protective gear, the men of the Hazmat Elimination Co. venture into the eerily vast and vacant asylum that is filled with an evil and mysterious past. Rampant patient abuse, medieval medical procedure and rumors of demonic possession are some of the many dark secrets the hospital holds: but then so do each of the men. This "deliciously disturbing", (Us Weekly) thriller, directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist), features a talented cast including David Caruso (CSI: Miami), Peter Mullan (War Horse, Trainspotting), Paul Guilfoyle (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), Josh Lucas (American Psycho), Stephen Gevedon (Show Me a Hero) and Brendan Sexton III (The Killing, Boys Don’t Cry).
Special Features Include:
-“Return to Danvers: The Secrets of SESSION 9” featuring interviews with director/co-writer Brad Anderson, actor/co-writer Stephen Gevedon, actors Josh Lucas, Brendan Sexton III, Larry Fessenden, composers The Climax Golden Twins, and director of photography Uta Briesewitz
-“Horror’s Hallowed Grounds:” Revisiting the locations of the film
-Audio Commentary with Brad Anderson and Stephen Gevedon
-Deleted Scenes/ Alternate Ending with/without commentary by director Brad Anderson
-Story to Screen
-“The Haunted Palace”
-Theatrical Trailer
Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Newly re-mastered in HD! Auntie Roo (Shelley Winters, He Ran All the Way) just loves children... to death. After the mysterious disappearance of her daughter, Auntie Roo has been looking for a 'dead ringer' replacement. And this time she found one... from the local orphanage! But what is she to do with the girl's pesky brother when he discovers Roo's terrible secret in the attic? Top-notch direction by cult filmmaker Curtis Harrington (Queen of Blood, Night Tide) and featuring great performances by Mark Lester (Oliver, Eyewitness), Chloe Franks (Tales from the Crypt), Lionel Jeffries (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), Hugh Griffith (Ben-Hur) and the great Ralph Richardson (The Fallen Idol). Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? was the follow-up to What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? and What s the Matter with Helen?.
Bonus Features: Optional English Subtitles, Audio Commentary with Film Historian David Del Valle and Film Scholar Nathaniel Bell, Trailers
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
Bunker of the Dead (FilmRise, Blu-ray & DVD)
The Dark (Adventures of Captain Marvel, DVD)
Hotel Hell (ITN Distribution, DVD)
The House on Cuckoo Lane (Wild Eye Raw, DVD)
The Killer 3 Pack (SGL Entertainment, DVD)
The Ladies of the House (Ladies of the House, DVD)
Lake Nowhere (Brink, Blu/DVD Combo)
Lights Camera Blood! (SRS Cinema, DVD)
Psychopaths: Backwoods Babes on the Run (WorldWide Multimedia, DVD)
Restoration (Uncork’d Entertainment, DVD)
Sharkenstein (Wild Eye Releasing, DVD)
The Sleeping Room (Shami Media Group, DVD)
Urban Cannibal Massacre (Tomcat Releasing, 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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