August's home entertainment releases are off to a strong start this Tuesday, as horror and sci-fi fans have a lot to look forward to this week. Scream Factory is keeping busy with a trio of releases—Bite, The Binding, and the Collector’s Edition release of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)—and Anchor Bay has a pair of indie genre offerings, Viral and Lazer Team, coming out on August 2nd as well. Ben Wheatley’s stunning adaptation of High-Rise is also coming home on Tuesday, and if you missed it last month, Most Likely to Die makes its way to DVD this week, too.
Other notable releases include DVDs of Panzer, Summer Camp, The Suffering, and the Blu-ray release of The Night Visitor.
Bite (Scream Factory, Blu-ray & DVD)
Your Fear Is Her Appetite.
While on her bachelorette party getaway, bride-to be Casey (Elma Begovic) gets a seemingly harmless bite from an unknown insect. After returning home with cold feet, Casey tries to call off her wedding… but before she’s able to, she starts exhibiting insect-like traits. Brought to the breaking point by both her ongoing physical transformation and her wedding anxiety, Casey succumbs to her horrifying new instincts. As her metamorphosis becomes complete, the bugged bride and all who cross her path discover that everything can change with a single bite.
Directed by Chad Archibald, Bite is an altogether new breed of terror. A disturbing and intense film that has caused an international sensation at top genre film festivals, this is one movie that horror fans can really sink their teeth into.
Special Features Include Audio Commentary from writer/director/producer Chad Archibald and Five Behind-The-Scenes documentary shorts featuring looks at special effects makeup, creating the set, and more.
High-Rise (Magnolia Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Tom Hiddleston stars as Dr. Robert Laing, the newest resident of a luxurious apartment in a high-tech skyscraper whose lofty location places him amongst society s upper class. Laing quickly settles in and meets the other tenants: Charlotte (Sienna Miller), a bohemian single mother; Wilder (Luke Evans), a charismatic documentarian who lives with his pregnant wife Helen (Elisabeth Moss); and Mr. Royal (Jeremy Irons), the building s enigmatic architect. Life seems like paradise to the solitude-seeking Laing. But, as power outages become more frequent and building flaws emerge, mainly on the lower floors, social strata begins to crumble and the building descends into a class war.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Under cover of darkness, while an unsuspecting city sleeps, an alien life form begins to sow the seeds of unspeakable terror. Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Veronica Cartwright and Jeff Goldblum star in this shocking, "first-rate suspense thriller", (Newsday).
One by one, the residents of San Francisco are becoming drone-like shadows of their former selves. As the phenomenon spreads, two Department of Health workers, Matthew (Sutherland) and Elizabeth (Adams), uncover the horrifying truth: Mysterious pods are cloning humans and destroying the originals! The unworldly invasion grows stronger with each passing minute, hurling Matthew and Elizabeth into a desperate race to save not only their own lives, but the future of the entire human race.
Special Features Include 2K scan of the inter-positive, “Star-Crossed in The Invasion:” An interview with actress Brooke Adams (9 minutes), “Leading the Invasion:” An interview with actor Art Hindle (25 minutes), “Re-Creating The Invasion:” An interview with writer W.D. Richter (16 minutes), “Scoring the Invasion:” An interview with composer Denny Zeitlin (15 minutes), Audio Commentary with author/film historian Steve Haberman, Audio Commentary by director Philip Kaufman, “Re-Visitors From Outer Space, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Pod:” Including interviews with director Philip Kaufman, screenwriter W.D. Richter, director of photography Michael Chapman, and actors Donald Sutherland and Veronica Cartwright (15 minutes), “Practical Magic: The Special Effects Pod” (4 minutes), “The Man Behind The Scream: The Sound Effects Pod:” An interview with Ben Burtt and sound editor Bonnie Koehler (12 minutes), “The Invasion Will Be Televised: The Cinematography Pod” (5 minutes), Theatrical Trailer, TV Spots, Radio Spots, Photo Gallery and An episode of SCIENCE FICTION THEATRE, “Time is Just A Place,: based on Jack Finney’s short story directed by Jack Arnold.
Viral (Anchor Bay Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Teenaged sisters Emma (Sofia Black-D'Elia) and Stacey (Analeigh Tipton) live a normal life, until their small suburban neighborhood is stricken with mysterious parasitic virus. As the disease rapidly spreads throughout the town, the two band together to barricade themselves from infection. But it may already be too late – when the virus enters their home, the sisters are faced with an impossible choice: protect each other, or survive the virus.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
The Binding (Scream Factory, Blu-ray & DVD)
Lazer Team (Anchor Bay Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Most Likely to Die (NAMP, DVD)
Panzer (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD)
The Night Visitor (VCI Entertainment, Blu-ray)
The Suffering (Breaking Glass Pictures, DVD)
Summer Camp (Lionsgate, 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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