Hello, dear readers! To paraphrase a popular movie, “We’re in the Endgame now,” as Halloween is now merely only a few days away. If you’re looking for some last-minute viewing ideas to get you to the spooky season finish line, we definitely have a great array of choices heading home on Tuesday. The biggest recommendation that I can personally make in regard to perfect Halloween movie experiences is the WNUF Halloween Special, which is getting a killer Blu-ray release tomorrow. Arrow Films is giving Dario Argento’s Deep Red a 4K upgrade this week, too, and Severin Films is showing love to both An Angel for Satan and Beyond Darkness.
Other releases for October 26th include Don’t Breathe 2, The Amazing Mr. X, Boardinghouse, Eye of the Devil, Skull: The Mask, Frankenstein’s Daughter, and Underworld: Limited Edition 5-Movie Collection.
The Amazing Mr. X: Special Edition (Film Detective, Blu-ray)
An atmospheric masterpiece, The Amazing Mr. X stars Turhan Bey as Alexis, a mystery man who claims to communicate with spirits. Appearing on the beach one night, Alexis easily charms a depressed widow and her sister (Lynn Bari and Cathy O'Donnell). The sly Alexis makes a living by separating gullible people from their money, but before this tale is over he will learn that the living are far more dangerous than the dead. Thanks to exceptional cinematography by John Alton, director Bernard Vorhaus delivers a film that oozes weird passion and sinister suspense. This is a movie that breathes right on your neck!
SPECIAL FEATURES:
An Angel for Satan (Severin Films, Blu-ray & DVD)
In the final film of her Italian Gothic period, the legendary Barbara Steele (BLACK SUNDAY) stars in one of the most startling erotic shockers of her entire career: When a cursed statue is recovered from a villa's lake, a young heiress (Steele) will inflict a torrent of depraved seduction and homicidal madness on the local village. Anthony Steffen (THE NIGHT EVELYN CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE), Claudio Gora (DANGER: DIABOLIK), and Marina Berti (NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS) co-star in a EuroHorror classic featuring Steele in all her mid-'60s glory (DVD Drive-In), co-written and directed by Camillo Mastrocinque (CRYPT OF THE VAMPIRE) and scanned in 2K from the original negative - with both the Italian and thought-lost English tracks - recently discovered in a Rome vault.
Bonus features include: Trailer, Barbara & Her Furs ― 1967 Short Film By Pierre Andro Based On “Venus In Furs” Starring Barbara Steele With Optional Partial Commentary By Steele, Audio Commentary With Kat Ellinger, Author Of 'Daughters Of Darkness', The Devil Statue ― Interview With Actor Vassili Karis, Audio Commentary With Actress Barbara Steele And Horror Film Historian David Del Valle, Extended Trailer
Beyond Darkness (Severin Films, Blu-ray)
Shortly after completing TROLL 2, writer/director Claudio Fragasso and co-writer Rossella Drudi (SHOCKING DARK) returned to America to combine elements of THE EXORCIST, POLTERGEIST, THE BEYOND, and their own insane aesthetic for what critics - and Fragasso/Drudi themselves - consider to be their horror masterpiece: When a Satanic child killer is executed, she transforms the new home of a young reverend and his family into a portal to Hell. Gene LeBrock (METAMORPHOSIS), David Brandon (CALIGULA 2) and Michael Paul Stephenson (child star of TROLL 2 and director of BEST WORST MOVIE) star in this ''bats*** crazy good time'' (EuroCult AV) shot by Joe D'Amato with costumes by Laura Gemser, an epic score by Carlo Maria Cordio (NIGHT KILLER) and released in Italy as EVIL DEAD 5, now featuring new interviews produced exclusively for this edition.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Boardinghouse (AGFA/Bleeding Skull, Blu-ray)
Nothing can prepare you for BOARDINGHOUSE. Jim (director John Wintergate), a psychic-gigolo who wears a leopard-print thong, rents a haunted house to "beautiful women with no ties." From there, this unworldly slasher transforms into a sleazy, hallucinogenic maelstrom of gore, sex, chainsaws, pie fights, killer refrigerators, jacuzzis, beds that eat people, a new wave band called 33 and 1/3, and a leading lady known only as Kalassu. BOARDINGHOUSE is the first shot-on-video horror film to be blown up to 35mm and released theatrically. AGFA + Bleeding Skull! are thrilled to bring the 35mm theatrical cut to home video for the first time in this 2-disc set, which also includes PSYCHO KILLER (a previously unreleased alternate home video cut) and SALLY & JESS (the previously unreleased "family film" from the makers of BOARDINGHOUSE).
Bonus Features:
Deep Red 4K (Arrow Films, 4K Ultra HD)
From Dario Argento, maestro of the macabre and the man behind some of the greatest excursions in Italian horror (Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage), comes Deep Red – the ultimate giallo movie.
One night, musician Marcus Daly (David Hemmings, Blow Up), looking up from the street below, witnesses the brutal axe murder of a woman in her apartment. Racing to the scene, Marcus just manages to miss the perpetrator… or does he? As he takes on the role of amateur sleuth, Marcus finds himself ensnared in a bizarre web of murder and mystery where nothing is what it seems…
Aided by a throbbing score from regular Argento collaborators Goblin, Deep Red (aka Profondo Rosso and The Hatchet Murders) is a hallucinatory fever dream of a giallo punctuated by some of the most astonishing set-pieces the sub-genre has to offer.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS:
DISC 1 (4K ULTRA-HD BLU-RAY) – DEEP RED: ORIGINAL VERSION
DISC 2 (4K ULTRA-HD BLU-RAY) – DEEP RED: EXPORT VERSION
*The English audio track on this original cut has some portions of English audio missing. English audio for these sections was never recorded for these scenes. As such, they are presented with Italian audio, subtitled in English.
Don’t Breathe 2 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Digital, Blu-ray/Digital & DVD)
In the thrilling sequel to the break-out hit, DON'T BREATHE 2 reprises Norman Nordstrom (Stephen Lang), who has been hiding out for several years in an isolated cabin. He lives with a young girl and has recreated the family stolen from him by a drunk driver. Their quiet life together is shattered when a group of unseemly criminals kidnaps her. Norman is forced to tap into even darker and more creative instincts in an effort to save her.
Eye of the Devil (Warner Archive Collection, Blu-ray)
A French winegrower (David Niven) returns to Bordeaux with his wife (Deborah Kerr) and family to face ritual sacrifice for another bad year.
Frankenstein’s Daughter: Special Edition (Film Detective, Blu-ray)
''Look at her! She lives!'' So says Dr. Oliver Frank at the sight of his new creation, a hulking beast with the transplanted brain of a beautiful young woman. He has finally carried on the legacy of his late grandfather, the notorious Dr. Frankenstein!
The twist in Frankenstein's Daughter (1958) is that it takes place in ''modern'' Los Angeles, where teenagers are forever in swim gear. Even as news reports warn them about a female monster menacing the neighborhood, nothing stops these kids from partying by the poolside.
Fans of low-budget horror will see some familiar faces in the cast, including John Ashley, Harold Lloyd, Jr., and former Playboy Playmate of the Month, Sally Todd (just a year after her appearance in The Unearthly). For Director Richard E. Cunha, Frankenstein's Daughter was part of a productive year where he turned out three other cult favorites: She Demons; Giant from the Unknown; and Missile to the Moon. And though Donald Murphy lacked the schlock pedigree of his director and co-stars, his thousand-watt stare makes him a perfectly evil Dr. Frank.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Skull: The Mask (RLJE Films, DVD)
A mask possesses and forces those who wear it to carry out visceral sacrifices in this splatter-filled supernatural slasher.
WNUF Halloween Special (Terror Vision, Blu-ray)
For decades, obscure film collectors and lovers of esoteric cinema have sought it and now the search is over. Originally broadcast live on October 31, 1987, the "WNUF Halloween Special" is a stunning exposé of terrifying supernatural activity that unfolded at the infamous Webber House, the site of ghastly murders. Local television personality Frank Stewart leads a group of paranormal investigators including a Catholic exorcist, Father Joseph Matheson, and the prolific husband-and-wife team Louis and Claire Berger. Together, the experts explore the darkest corners of the supposedly haunted Webber House, trying to prove the existence of the demonic entities within. Did they find the horrific truth or simply put superstitious rumors to rest? Compiled from the highest-quality source material available, this blu-ray features the full program, including the original commercials that ran during the notorious broadcast.
Bonus Features:
ALSO AVAILABLE THIS WEEK:
Old Habits Die Hard (Bayview, DVD)
The Twilight Zone: The Complete Series (Paramount Home Entertainment, Blu-ray)
Underworld: Limited Edition 5-Movie Collection (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray/Digital)
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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