Hey everyone! We have one last batch of horror and sci-fi home media releases headed our way before the end of the month, and this week’s offerings are massive, with well over 20 titles coming out on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD this Tuesday alone.
One of my favorite creature features ever is getting some love in HD finally, with Scream Factory’s 4K release of Lewis Teague’s Alligator (and its sequel is headed to Blu-ray this week as well), and the horror comedy Dead Heat is also getting a 4K upgrade. For all you giallo fans out there, Forgotten Gialli: Volume 3 is being released tomorrow and features three more Italian classics genre fans are going to want to own, and Severin Films is keeping busy with a ton of titles this week too: Bloody Pit of Horror, Black Candles, Night of the Demon, and The Halfway House.
Other titles headed home on February 22nd include Deadly Games, The Devil’s Men, The Scary of Sixty-First, Escape from L.A. 4K, Cold War Creatures, The Midnight Swim, Yokai Monsters Collection, Visions, Killing Spree, Girlfriend From Hell, and a new Blu for Dead & Buried.
Alligator: Collector’s Edition 4K (Scream Factory, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray)
It lives 50 feet beneath the city. It's 36 feet long. It weighs 2,000 pounds…and it's about to break out! From director Lewis Teague (Cujo) and screenwriter John Sayles (The Howling) comes an unstoppable thriller with bite. A family returning from Florida decides their pet baby alligator is too much to handle and flushes him down the toilet. Meanwhile, Slade Laboratories is conducting secret experiments with animals and disposing of them in the sewer. The alligator, fending for itself, begins to feed on the dead animals, and grows. Now, twelve years later, after several mysterious murders, David Madison (Robert Forster, Jackie Brown) is on the case to find out who…or what…is killing people.
Bonus Content:
Alligator II: The Mutation (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Just when you thought it was safe to go in the sewer… Deep in the sewers beneath the city of Regent Park, a baby alligator feeds on the experimental animals discarded by Future Chemicals Corporation. Nourished by the toxic growth hormones and other mutating chemicals, the gator grows immense in size…and voracious in appetite. Now, it must kill to survive! It's a classic confrontation between man and beast. This sequel to the classic thriller Alligator stars Joseph Bologna (Transylvania 6-5000), Steve Railsback (Lifeforce), Dee Wallace (The Howling), Richard Lynch (Bad Dreams) and Kane Hodder (Jason X).
Bonus Content:
Bloody Pit of Horror: Special Edition (Severin Films, Blu-ray)
The most insane post-peplum psycho-sexual classic in Italian horror history just got even better: When the crew of a saucy photoshoot breaks into an abandoned castle, they will unleash the madness of the male-body-obsessed owner (muscleman Mickey Hargitay in the WTF? performance of his career) who is possessed by the vengeful spirit of a 16th century torturer. Walter Brandt (THE PLAYGIRLS AND THE VAMPIRE) and Femi Benussi (HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON) co-star in this hair-raising orgy of sadism - also known as THE CRIMSON EXECUTIONER - from director Massimo Pupillo (TERROR-CREATURES FROM THE GRAVE) and the screenwriters of KILL, BABY... KILL! with special effects by future Oscar® winner Carlo Rambaldi (E.T.), now scanned in eye-stabbingly stunning 2K from the original uncut negative recently discovered in a Rome lab vault.
Special Features:
Dead Heat 4K (Vinegar Syndrome, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray)
Detectives Doug Bigelow and Roger Mortis have just tried, and failed, to take down a ring of master thieves who have been targeting high end jewelry dealers. While orchestrating a massive siege, the thieves are violently eliminated; one blown apart and the other crushed. While being autopsied, the forensic pathologist makes an inexplicable discovery: the "dead" men were already dead before being "killed." In other words, they were zombies. With little information to go on besides the presence of a strange man-made substance in the cadaver's flesh, Bigelow and Mortis attempt to piece together the mystery, which eventually leads them to a chemical plant, wherein Mortis, true to his name, winds up killed by a hulking zombie. But who's better to fight zombie criminals than a zombie cop?
A novel take on the zombie film, Oscar nominee Mark Goldblatt's (The Punisher) directorial debut, DEAD HEAT is a tightly paced and darkly comedic action-horror film featuring plentiful gore effects and with an all-star cast, headlined by Emmy nominees Treat Williams (Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead), Joe Piscopo (Wise Guys), Darren McGavin (Kolchak: The Night Stalker), alongside horror icon Vincent Price (Theatre of Blood) in one of his final roles. Vinegar Syndrome proudly presents the worldwide 4K UHD debut of DEAD HEAT, newly restored from its 35mm original negative!
Deadly Games (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)
Steve Railsback (famed for his unhinged performance as Charles Manson in 1976’s TV mini-series Helter Skelter) is at his sinister best as a troubled Vietnam Vet in 1982’s Deadly Games - a tale of madness, murder and adultery from writer/director Scott Mansfied.
A masked maniac with a penchant for a horror-themed board game is playing his own twisted game with the women of a small American town. Each time the dice is rolled, another victim meets a grisly end. Returning home to mourn the death of her murdered sister, Keegan (Jo Ann Harris) befriends local cop Roger and oddball cinema projectionist Billy (Railsback) - but soon finds herself in the killer’s sights.
Originally entitled Who Fell Asleep, Deadly Games is an intriguing early ’80s slasher oddity which benefits from focusing as much on the development of its female-led cast as it does on its scenes of stalking and slashing. Available for the first time ever on disc, Arrow Video is proud to present this long-overlooked creepy gem in a brand new restoration from the recently-unearthed camera negative!
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
The Devil’s Men (Indicator, Blu-ray)
This offbeat horror film, starring genre icons Peter Cushing (The Revenge of Frankenstein, Star Wars), Donald Pleasence (You Only Live Twice, Halloween), and Luan Peters (Twins of Evil, Doctor Who), and featuring a score by the legendary Brian Eno, tells of a Satanic cult, led by Cushing, that is abducting tourists for ritual sacrifice – and only Pleasence’s priest can save them.
An eccentric, bloody cult shocker, The Devil’s Men (also known as Land of the Minotaur) makes its world Blu-ray debut, presenting both the original and US cuts of the film in a new 2K restoration from the original negative, and accompanied by new and archival extras, including a feature-length Super 8 version of the film.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Forgotten Gialli: Volume 3 (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu-ray)
In this third installment in our celebration of gialli, we are proud to offer this trio of diverse & bloody offerings!
AUTOPSY: A wave of sudden, violent suicides have gripped Rome and are being blamed on sun spots. Simona, a young pathologist, has become increasingly interested in this strange phenomenon. But with the discovery of the body of a young woman, Simona finds herself thrust into a terrifying mystery and conspiracy to cloak actual murders as suicides.
An expertly directed thriller from Armando Crispino (The Dead Are Alive), AUTOPSY (made under the title Sun Spots & released internationally as The Victim), this stars Mimsy Farmer (Four Flies on Grey Velvet), Barry Primus (New York, New York), and Ray Lovelock (Let Sleeping Corpses Lie). Featuring stunning photography from veteran DP Carlo Carlini (The Bloodstained Butterfly) and score from Ennio Morricone (A Lizard in a Woman's Skin), Vinegar Syndrome is proud to bring AUTOPSY to Blu-ray, fully uncensored & featuring its English & Italian language audio tracks fully intact.
MURDER MANSION: On a dark and foggy night, a group of strangers find themselves stranded at an old mansion. Deciding to spend the night and look for help in the morning, the group pairs off for bed. As the night wears on, increasingly strange events begin to occur, culminating in murder. Tensions and suspicions rise...but is the explanation behind these ghastly events truly supernatural?
One of the best and most effective combos of mid 60s style gothic Euro horror and early 70s flavored giallo intrigue, Francisco Lara Polop's MURDER MANSION (originally The Mansion in the Fog) became a drive-in & late-nite TV hit in the US during the mid 1970s. Never legally released in the US on disc, Vinegar Syndrome proudly presents the Blu-ray premier, newly restored in 4K from its original negative and including its original Spanish soundtrack and its English and nearly impossible to find Italian dubs.
CRAZY DESIRES OF A MURDERER: The Countess Ileana has just returned to her family's grand old castle, where her paralyzed father and strange younger brother reside. Almost immediately after arriving, one of Ileana's friends is shockingly murdered and has her eyes plucked out of their sockets. While suspicion falls on Ileana's brother, a curious police inspector (character actor Corrado Gaipa of THE GODFATHER and MY DEAR KILLER) begins to investigate. However, his sleuthing proves no match for this maniac, as the body count steadily rises.
A delirious mix of gothic horror, sex drama, and murder mystery, Filippo Walter Ratti's CRAZY DESIRES OF A MURDERER (known in Italy as The Morbid Vices of a Housekeeper) remains one of the forgotten treats of late 70s giallo cinema. Never released theatrically in the English speaking world and virtually unavailable on home video, Vinegar Syndrome is delighted to bring this trashy rarity to Blu-ray, newly restored in 4K from its 35mm original negative!
Koko-di Koko-da (Dark Star Pictures, Blu-ray)
Elin and Tobias are a happily married couple who regularly vacation with their young daughter. The family is on a dreamy holiday when an innocuous case of food poisoning derails their plans and forever alters the course of their lives. Three years later, the once loving couple is on the road again to go camping, looking for one last chance to go back to the way things used to be. But what once was is lost, and our characters instead find themselves having to relive the same nightmarish events, as that day and the horrors it brings repeat themselves infinitely. Together, they must overcome their trauma, reconcile with their past and fight for their lives. Over, and over, and over again.
The Scary of Sixty-First (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu-ray)
Noelle and Addie have just moved into a beautiful, though impossibly cheap, apartment on Manhattan's prestigious Upper East Side. Not long after their arrival, Addie's behavior drastically changes, as she begins to sleepwalk and speak in a strange child's voice, much to the horror of her boyfriend Greg. Noelle, meanwhile, becomes intrigued by a mysterious young woman who inexplicably shows up at their apartment, who reveals that she believes the apartment was previously owned by infamous sex criminal and friend of government elites, Jeffrey Epstein. Determined to uncover the truth, Noelle joins the woman in her search; a journey which takes them deeper into the illicit and occult world of terrifying globalist conspiracies, where violence lurks at every turn.
With strong anti-establishment sensibilities, well executed social and political satire, plentiful sex and nudity, and a satisfyingly bleak and violent final act, writer/director/co-star Dasha Nekrasova'sTHE SCARY OF SIXTY-FIRST is an unfiltered and wholly original, contemporary exploitation-horror film. Paying homage to 70s Euro-horror through its gel-heavy 16mm cinematography by Hunter Zimny and a throbbing score by Eli Keszler, Vinegar Syndrome Pictures is thrilled to present the worldwide home video debut of THE SCARY OF SIXTY-FIRST, in a special features loaded Blu-ray edition.
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
Black Candles: Special Edition (Severin Films, Blu-ray)
Cold War Creatures: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)
Dead & Buried: Remastered Special Edition (Blue Underground, Blu-ray & DVD)
Ditched (Epic Pictures, Blu-ray)
Escape from L.A. 4K (Paramount Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Digital)
Girlfriend From Hell (Culture Shock, Blu-ray)
The Halfway House (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
Killing Spree (Terror Vision, Blu-ray)
Menopause (Bayview Films, DVD)
The Midnight Swim (Yellow Veil Pictures, Blu-ray & DVD)
The Monster of Camp Sunshine & Honeymoon of Terror (AGFA, Blu-ray)
Night of the Demon: Special Edition (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
Sinistre (Saturn’s Core, Blu-ray)
Voices (Indicator, Blu-ray)
Yokai Monsters Collection: Standard Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)
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.
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
