As we get closer to the Memorial Day holiday here in the States, we have a new batch of home media releases this week for those of you looking to spend some quality time on your couches getting caught up with some fantastic films over the upcoming long weekend. Arrow Video has put together a special edition of Joe D’Amato’s Death Smiles on a Murderer, and Scream Factory is keeping busy with their Blu-rays for both Of Unknown Origin and The Vampire and the Ballerina, and for those of you looking to upgrade your Jurassic Park films, there’s a new 4K 25th Anniversary Collection featuring every film in the franchise that should scratch that itch.
Other notable releases for May 22nd include The Matrix in 4K, I Kill Giants, Soft Matter, Daphne & Velma, and Devil’s Weekend.
Death Smiles on a Murderer: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu-ray)
A haunting and dreamlike gothic horror/giallo hybrid, Death Smiles on a Murderer is a compelling early work from the legendary sleaze and horror film director Joe D’Amato (Anthropophagus, Emanuelle in America), here billed under his real name Aristide Massaccesi.
Set in Austria in the early 1900s, Death Smiles on a Murderer stars Ewa Aulin, (Candy, Death Laid an Egg) as Greta, a beautiful young woman abused by her brother Franz (Luciano Rossi, Death Walks in High Heels, The Conformist) and left to die in childbirth by her illicit lover, the aristocrat Dr. von Ravensbrück (Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Kill, Baby... Kill!). Bereft with grief, Franz reanimates his dead sister using a formula engraved on an ancient Incan medallion. Greta then returns as an undead avenging angel, reaping revenge on the Ravensbrück family and her manically possessive brother.
Presented here in a stunning 2K restoration, D’Amato’s film is a stately and surreal supernatural mystery which benefits from an achingly mournful score by Berto Pisano, several shocking scenes of gore, and a typically sinister performance from Klaus Kinski as a morbid doctor.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
• Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original Italian and English soundtracks
• Uncompressed Mono 1.0 PCM audio
• Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
• New audio commentary by writer and critic Tim Lucas
• D’Amato Smiles on Death, an archival interview in which the director discusses the film
• All About Ewa, a newly-filmed, career-spanning interview with the Swedish star
• Smiling on the Taboo: Sex, Death and Transgression in the horror films of Joe D’Amato, new video essay by critic Kat Ellinger
• Original trailers
• Stills and collections gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx
Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary Collection (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu Combo)
Celebrate one of the biggest movie franchises of all time with Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary Collection! From Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park), Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III), and Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World), dinosaurs once again roam the Earth in an amazing theme park on a remote island. The action-packed adventures find man up against prehistoric predators in the ultimate battle for survival. Featuring visually stunning imagery and groundbreaking filmmaking, these epic films are sheer movie-making magic which were 65 million years in the making. Welcome to Jurassic Park.
Disc 1 - Jurassic Park:
Disc 2 - The Lost World: Jurassic Park:
Disc 3 - Jurassic Park III:
Disc 4 - Jurassic World:
Disc 5 - Jurassic Park:
Disc 6 - The Lost World: Jurassic Park:
Disc 7 - Jurassic Park III:
Disc 8 - Jurassic World:
Of Unknown Origin (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
When not mired in the corporate rat race, Wall Street executive Bart Hughes is king of his sleek Manhattan brownstone ... until he finds his castle under siege by the most determined of home intruders. Forced to enter a rat race of an entirely different sort, Bart takes a stand, with his survival and sanity at stake.
Peter Weller (RoboCop, Sons of Anarchy) stars in Of Unknown Origin, an eerie and nerve-tingling suspense thriller directed by George P. Cosmatos (Tombstone, Cobra) and the winner of Paris International Film Festival Awards for Best Picture and Actor. Cleverly and compellingly, the film draws you into a battle of wits, namely one with an intruder that’s formidable, persistent and clever enough to lure Bart (Weller) along on an unwitting path to self-destruction. In the battle of man vs. beast, push has come to scream.
The Vampire and the Ballerina (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
Shot in and around the grounds of an ancient Italian castle, this creepy and atmospheric thriller follows a company of beautiful ballerinas on tour, when they become stranded within its sinister, stony old walls. They have no idea that a horror legend two thousand years old is about to come alive in the form of a group of vampires, all thirsting for blood ... especially their nefarious and brutal queen. "Coupled with the smooth direction of Renato Polselli is some really fantastic cinematography that uses lighting and shadow effectively to make this film really come alive", (The Telltale Mind) ... and keep you firmly transfixed at the edge of your seat!
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
Daphne & Velma (Warner Home Video, Blu-ray & DVD)
Dark Vale (Wild Eye Releasing, DVD)
Devil’s Weekend (Wild Eye Releasing, DVD)
Doll Syndrome Unrated (Wild Eye Releasing, DVD)
I Kill Giants (RLJE Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
The Matrix (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu Combo)
Soft Matter (Wild Eye 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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