With Halloween only a week away now (how in the heck did that happen?), of course there are a ton of horror and sci-fi home entertainment offerings arriving on Tuesday, ready to get you primed for all your spooky shenanigans leading up to October 31st. In terms of new titles, both War of the Planet of the Apes and Annabelle: Creation hit various formats, and Criterion has put together a stellar release for Olivier Assayas’ Personal Shopper as well.
On the cult side of the genre spectrum, we have a myriad of movies to look forward to, including a quartet of titles from Vinegar Syndrome: The Corpse Grinders, Demon Wind, Blood Beat, and the double feature of Prime Evil and Lurkers. Arrow Video has assembled a special edition set for Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast that’s a must-own for any splatter fans out there, and the Warner Archive Collection is showing some love this week to Night School.
Other notable releases for October 24th include The Barn, the 4K restoration of The Old Dark House, Night Angel (aka Deliver Us From Evil) and the Planet of the Apes Trilogy box set.
Annabelle: Creation (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Blu/DVD/Digital HD & DVD)
You've seen her destroy lives. Now, the fear-makers behind The Conjuring dare you to experience the terrifying story of how she was created. Several years after the tragic death of their young daughter, a doll maker and his wife welcome a nun and six girls from a shut-down orphanage into their home. What seems like the answer to their prayers becomes a curse as their guests become the targets of the possessed creation: Annabelle.
Special Features:
- Directing Annabelle: Creation
- The Conjuring Universe
- Horror Shorts: Attic Panic
- Horror Shorts: Coffer
- Director’s Commentary
- Deleted Scenes Featurette
Blood Feast: Special Edition (Arrow Video, Blu/DVD Combo)
The filmography of late movie maverick Herschell Gordon Lewis brims with the mad, macabre, and just downright bizarre. But perhaps the most unhinged of all his directorial efforts, and certainly the most influential, must surely be his original gore-fest Blood Feast the first ever splatter movie.
Dorothy Fremont is looking to throw a party unlike any other, and she gets just that when she hires the decidedly sinister Fuad Ramses to cater the event. Promising to provide her guests with an authentic Egyptian feast, Ramses promptly sets about acquiring the necessary ingredients the body parts of nubile young women!
Featuring a host of stomach-churning gore gags including the infamous tongue sequence and much more nastiness besides, Herschell Gordon Lewis Blood Feast more than lives up to its name and remains essential viewing for any self-respecting splatter fan.
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
The Corpse Grinders (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu-ray)
The Lotus Cat Food Company has hit major financial trouble and is on the verge of closing, until the owners realize that rather than paying for meat, they can use bodies from the local graveyard to fill their tins. As their latest product hits the shelves, it's revealed to have an unintentional result: every cat that eats it is transformed into a bloodthirsty brute with an unending hunger for human flesh!
Ted V. Mikels' (THE DOLL SQUAD) legendary cult favorite, THE CORPSE GRINDERS, is a horror classic, chock full of jaw dropping twists, mind boggling surprises, and a self-aware sense of humor that became one of Ted's trademarks. Co-written by Arch Hall Sr. (EEGAH) & Joseph Cranston (THE CRAWLING HAND), and colorfully photographed by Mikels himself, this drive-in mainstay is proudly presented for the first time on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome, freshly restored in 2k from recently discovered negative elements!
Bonus Features:
1. Newly scanned and restored in 2k from the 16mm negative elements
2. Historical commentary track with Ted V. Mikels & Elijah Drenner
3. Video featurette with Ted V. Mikels (producer/director)
4. Stills gallery
5. Reversible cover artwork
6. English SDH subtitles
Night Angel (aka Deliver Us From Evil) (Kino Classics, Blu-ray)
A terrifying centuries-old evil has awakened in the form of the wicked, voluptuous Lilith (Isa Anderson, Real Men). Lilith uses her beauty and her insatiable lust as a potent lifeforce which spreads death and destruction to all who dare to succumb to her charms. Posing as a cover girl for a fashion magazine, Lilith becomes the object of insane desire for all who brave her seductive gaze. Only true love can withstand her awesome powers and only one man (Linden Ashby, Mortal Kombat) is strong enough to test them in a frightening test of will and death tango with Night Angel, the mistress of hell. The supporting cast includes Debra Feuer (To Live and Die in L.A.), Helen Martin (TV’s 227), Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth) and Karen Black (Burnt Offerings). Night Angel was directed Dominique Othenin-Girard (Halloween 5, Omen IV: The Awakening) with a screenplay by Joe Augustyn (Night of the Demons, Night of the Demons 2) and Walter Josten (Pucker Up and Bark Like a Dog).
Special Features:
-Audio Commentary with director Dominique Othenin-Girard, moderated by filmmaker Heather Buckley
-Audio Commentary by Paul Corupe of Canuxploitation.com and Film Historian Jason Pichonsky
-Interview with Star Isa Jank
-Interview with Screenwriter Joe Augustyn
-Interview with Steve Johnson (Special Makeup Effects Designer & Creator)
-Night Angel Tests
-Head Erosion Tests
-Chest Grab Tests
-Animated Behind-the-Scenes Image Gallery
-Original Theatrical Trailer
Night School (Warner Archive Collection, Blu-ray)
They work by day, take a full schedule of classes all night and somehow find time for study and an occasional date. Women in the evening curriculum at Boston’s distinguished Wendell College do a lot to get ahead in life. But there’s someone who will go to even greater lengths. Someone who will do anything to get a head. A killer whose M.O. is the ritualistic decapitation of victims makes terror a required course at Night School, directed by Kenneth Hughes (Casino Royale 1967) and starring Rachel Ward (The Thorn Birds; After Dark, My Sweet) in her screen debut. Leonard Mann plays the homicide lieutenant assigned to the puzzling case. He has hunches, not clues. Suspects, not evidence. And a rising body count. Finals are coming early this year at Wendell. And for those who don’t make the grade, heads will roll.
The Old Dark House: 4K Restoration (Cohen Film Collection/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Blu-ray & DVD)
From the director of Frankenstein, a group of stranded travelers stumble upon a strange old house, and find themselves at the mercy of the highly eccentric, and potentially dangerous, Femm family. This well-performed, atmospheric thriller features the first starring horror role for Boris Karloff, as the hulking, disfigured butler. Based on the novel Benighted (1927) by J. B. Priestley. The Cohen Film Collection is proud to present this stunning new 4K restoration.
BONUS FEATURES:
- feature length audio commentary by actor Gloria Stuart
- feature length audio commentary by James Whale biographer James Curtis
- interview with director Curtis Harrington on the rediscovery of this once thought-lost film
- new interview with Sara Karloff
- re-release trailer
Personal Shopper: Special Edition (Criterion Collection, Blu-ray & DVD)
With this intimate supernatural drama, the celebrated French filmmaker Olivier Assayas conjures a melancholy ghost story set in the world of haute couture. Starring Kristen Stewart, whose performance in Assayas's Clouds of Sils Maria made her the first American actor to win a Cesar Award, this evocative character study tells the story of a young American fashion assistant and spiritual medium who is living in Paris and searching for signs of an afterlife following the sudden death of her twin brother. A stirring depiction of grief in the form of a psychological thriller, Personal Shopper which won Assayas the best director award at Cannes is a chilling meditation on modern modes of communication and the way we mourn those we love.
DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
- 2K digital master, supervised by director of photography Yorick Le Saux and approved by director Olivier Assayas, with 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack
- New interview with Assayas
- 2016 festival press conference featuring members of the film's cast and crew, including actor Kristen Stewart
- PLUS: An essay by critic Glenn Kenny
War for the Planet of the Apes (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD Combo, 3D Blu Combo, Blu/DVD/Digital & DVD)
Andy Serkis returns as Caesar in the thrilling and climatic chapter of the PLANET OF THE APES saga as Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel (Woody Harrelson). After suffering unimaginable losses, Caesar resolves to avenge his kind, pitting him against the Colonel for a final showdown that will determine the future of the planet!
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
The Barn (Nevermore Production Films, Blu-ray)
Blood Beat (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
Demon Wind (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
Planet of the Apes Trilogy (20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD Combo & Blu/Digital HD)
Prime Evil/Lurkers (Vinegar Syndrome, Blu/DVD Combo)
The Relic (Paramount, DVD)
The Uninvited (Paramount, Blu-ray)
Vampire in Brooklyn (Paramount, 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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