Well, I hope you guys have been saving your pennies, because there are a lot of great horror and sci-fi titles coming home on March 14th. Scream Factory is giving Firestarter the Collector’s Edition treatment this week, and both Drive-In Massacre and The Skull are being resurrected in HD as well.
If you missed them during their theatrical runs late last year, both The Love Witch and Paul Verhoeven’s award-winning thriller Elle are getting Blu-ray / DVD releases this Tuesday, and Demon Seed is making its way to Blu-ray as well (which I highly recommend watching if you haven't).
Other notable home entertainment titles for March 14th include Passengers, Z Nation Season 3, Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word, Stray Bullets, and The Man Who Could Cheat Death.
Drive-In Massacre (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
It was one of the few true slasher movies to pre-date HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13th, and remains the closest you'll ever come to an actual seedy 70s drive-in experience: It's a hot summer night in Southern California and the local passion pit is packed with patrons. But when a sword-wielding psycho begins carving up customers, it'll unspool a grubby cavalcade of creepy carnies, peeping perverts, graphic decapitations and an ending you have to see/hear to believe. John F. Goff (THE FOG), Bruce Kimball (LOVE CAMP 7) and co-writer George Buck Flower (BACK TO THE FUTURE) star in this nasty slab of '70s sleaze directed by film & episodic television veteran Stu Segall (INSATIABLE), now packed with all-new Special Features and restored from the original camera negative recently discovered in the ruins of the Sky View Drive-In near Oxnard!
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary With Director Stu Segall
- Drive-In Days: Interview With Star / Co-Writer John F. Goff
- Norm Sheridan Recalls Drive-In Massacre
- Making the Massacre: Interview With Director Stu Segall
- Theatrical Trailer
Elle (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
Michèle seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle's life forever. When she resolutely tracks the man down, they are both drawn into a curious and thrilling game - a game that may, at any moment, spiral out of control.
Firestarter: Collector’s Edition (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
She has the power to set objects afire with just one glance!
Firestarter, based on the unforgettable best-seller by esteemed horror author Stephen King, chronicles the extraordinary life of Charlene "Charlie", McGee. Eight-year-old Drew Barrymore stars as the child who has the amazing ability to start fires with just a glance. Can her psychic power and the love of her father save her from the threatening government agency, "The Shop, ", which wants to control her… or destroy her? Filled with blazing special effects and featuring an all-star cast including Martin Sheen, Heather Locklear, Art Carney, Louise Fletcher and George C. Scott, Firestarter is directed by Mark L. Lester (Class of 1999, Commando) and driven by a pulsating, thrilling score from Tangerine Dream (Legend, Sorcerer, Risky Business).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Love Witch (Oscilloscope Laboratories, Blu-ray & DVD)
Elaine, a beautiful young witch, is determined to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. However, her spells work too well, leaving her with a string of hapless victims. When she finally meets the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved will driver her to the brink of insanity and murder. With a visual style that pays tribute to Technicolor thrillers of the 60s, THE LOVE WITCH explores female fantasy and the repercussions of pathological narcissism.
The Skull (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
The Skull once again teams up horror legends Peter Cushing (Horror of Dracula) and Sir Christopher Lee (House of the Long Shadows) in a chilling, supernatural tale of murder from beyond the grave. Based on a short story by Robert Bloch (Psycho), The Skull introduces us to Dr. Christopher Maitland (Cushing), a collector of the occult. When he is given the opportunity to purchase the skull of the infamous Marquis de Sade, he leaps at the chance. What he doesn't know is that his friend, Matthew Phillips (Lee) is the former owner of the skull - and quite happy to be rid of it. Possession of The Skull leads to a terrifying series of nightmarish events for Dr. Maitland as he tries to keep control of his life and the of unspeakable evil bearing down upon him. Hammer horror great and Oscar-winning cinematographer Freddie Francis (The Creeping Flesh, The Innocents) directed this bone-chilling thriller with a script by Milton Subotsky (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror). The stupendous cast includes Patrick Wymark (The Psychopath), Nigel Green (The Ipcress File), Patrick Magee (A Clockwork Orange) and Michael Gough (The Crimson Cult).
Special Features: Audio Commentary by Film Historian Tim Lucas | Jonathan Rigby on The Skull" featurette (24:14) | Kim Newman on The Skull" featurette (27:18l | "Trailers From Hell" with Joe Dante | Trailers
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
American Resurrection (Dub 3 Entertainment, DVD)
Demon Seed (1977) (Warner Archive Collection, Blu-ray)
The Drowned (Camp Motion Pictures, DVD)
Easter Sunday (Video Music, Inc., DVD)
The Gravedigger/Tales From Beyond the Grave Double Feature (Massacre Video, DVD)
Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD)
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)
Passengers (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray & DVD)
Stray Bullets (Cinedigm, DVD)
Z Nation: Season 3 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, DVD)
Z Nation: 3 Season Collection (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 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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