APRIL 30
The Church [1989]
AKA “La chiesa”
4K UHD/Blu-ray
PRINCIPAL CAST: Tomas Arana, Feodor Chaliapin, Asia Argento, Barbara Cupisti, Hugh Quarshie
DIRECTOR: Michele Soavi
SYNOPSIS: For his second feature film – and first full collaboration with co-writer/producer/mentor Dario Argento – writer/director Michele Soavi unleashes a “mind-blowing” (Bloody Disgusting), “breathtaking” (Slant) “masterwork” (DVD Drive-In), now in UHD for the first time ever: In a Gothic cathedral built on the mass grave of a Teutonic purge, an ancient discovery by the new librarian will release an unholy maelstrom of madness, violence and demonic vengeance. Tomas Arana (THE SECT), Feodor Chaliapin (INFERNO), Hugh Quarshie (NIGHTBREED), Barbara Cupisti (CEMETERY MAN) and Asia Argento co-star in this Italian horror milestone co-written by Franco Ferrini (PHENOMENA), with a Soavi-approved 4K scan from the original negative and over 3 hours of Special Features – including new interviews with Soavi and Argento.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- The Mystery Of The Cathedrals – Interview With Director Michele Soavi
- Alchemical Possession – Interview With Co-Screenwriter/Producer Dario Argento
- The Eleventh Commandment – Interview With Co-Screenwriter Franco Ferrini
- The Ghostwriter – Interview With Co-Screenwriter Dardano Sacchetti
- Lotte – Interview With Actress Asia Argento
- Here Comes The Bride – Interview With Actress Antonella Vitale
- A Demon Named Evan – Interview With Actor Tomas Arana
- Father Giovanni – Interview With Actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice
- Monsters And Demons – Interview With Special FX Artist Sergio Stivaletti
- Holy Ground – Interview With Make-Up Artist Franco Casagni
- Building The Church – Interview With Set Designer Antonello Geleng
- The Right-Hand Man – Interview With Assistant Director Claudio Lattanzi
- Return To The Land Of The Demons – Interview With Alan Jones, Author Of Profondo Argento
- Trailer
TAGLINES:
- You Haven’t Got A Prayer.
- It will make you squirm.
- In this unholy sanctuary you haven’t got a prayer …
GENRE: Horror
RATING: Rated R
RUN TIME: 102 Minutes
STUDIO: Severin Films
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https://twitter.com/severinfilms/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094860/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVNNTXMD/
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The Sect [1991]
AKA “The Devil’s Daughter” or “La seta”
PRINCIPAL CAST: Kelly Curtis, Herbert Lom, Giovanni Lombardo, Mariangela Giordano
DIRECTOR: Michele Soavi
SYNOPSIS: The third feature by director Michele Soavi – his second collaboration with producer/co-writer Dario Argento – has been called “deranged” (We Are Cult), “disturbing” (Blu-ray.com) and “long overdue for reevaluation” (Bloody Disgusting). Now it can be experienced like never before: As a global satanic cabal grows in ferocity, an unwitting young schoolteacher (Kelly Curtis – sister of Jamie Lee – in her sole genre role) is chosen to deliver the ultimate evil. Herbert Lom (COUNT DRACULA), Mariangela Giordano (BURIAL GROUND) and Giovanni Lombardo Radice (THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK) co-star in “a nightmarish fever dream from a visionary filmmaker” (Good Efficient Butchery), scanned in 4K from the original negative with over 3 hours of Special Features – including new interviews with Soavi and Argento – for the first time ever.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Sympathy For The Devil – Interview With Director Michele Soavi
- (You’re The) Devil In Disguise – Interview With Co-Screenwriter/Producer Dario Argento
- Catacumba – Interview With Co-Screenwriter Gianni Romoli
- Cult Of Personality – Interview With Actor Tomas Arana
- Owner Of A Lonely Heart – Interview With Actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice
- In The Shaded Area – Interview With Cinematographer Raffaele Mertes
- Four Times Argento – Interview With Composer Pino Donaggio
- Total Eclipse – Interview With Special FX Artist Sergio Stivaletti
- Oh Well – Interview With Set Designer Antonello Geleng
- The Birth Of Evil – Interview With Film Historian Fabrizio Spurio
- Into The Dark Well – Interview With Alan Jones, Author Of Profondo Argento
- Catacomb In The Kitchen – Michele Soavi Shows Us His Dark Basement
- Italian Trailer
- S. Release Trailer
TAGLINE: Satan has chosen his victims. The battle with evil has begun.
GENRE: Horror
RATING: Rated R
RUN TIME: 117 Minutes
STUDIO: Severin Films
https://www.facebook.com/severinfilms
https://www.instagram.com/severinfilms/
https://twitter.com/severinfilms/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100581/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVNL9J4X/
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Basket Case [1982]
4K UHD/Blu-ray
PRINCIPAL CAST: Kevin Van Hentenryck, Terri Susan Smith, Beverly Bonner
DIRECTOR: Frank Henenlotter
SYNOPSIS:
The feature debut of director Frank Henenlotter (Brain Damage, Frankenhooker), 1982’s Basket Case is a riotous and blood-spattered “midnight movie” experience, now presented for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
Duane Bradley seems like a pretty ordinary guy. His formerly conjoined twin Belial, on the other hand, is a deformed creature who lives in a wicker basket. Arriving in the Big Apple and taking up a room at a seedy hotel, the pair set about hunting down and butchering the surgeons responsible for their separation.
Filmed on a shoestring budget against the backdrop of 1980s New York (where it played on the midnight movie circuit for over two-and-a-half years), Basket Case has clawed its way from its humble origins to become one of the most celebrated cult movies of all time.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- 4K restoration from the original 16mm negative by MoMA
- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original uncompressed PCM mono audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with writer/director Frank Henenlotter and star Kevin VanHentenryck
- Archival audio commentary with Frank Henenlotter, producer Edgar Ievins, actor Beverly Bonner and filmmaker Scooter McRae
- Basket Case 3-1/2: An Interview with Duane Bradley – short film by Frank Henenlotter
- Me and the Bradley Boys – interview with actor Kevin VanHentenryck
- A Brief Interview with Director Frank Henenlotter – a strange 2017 interview with the director
- Seeing Double: The Basket Case Twins – interview with actors Florence and Maryellen Schultz
- Blood, Basket and Beyond – interview with actor Beverly Bonner
- The Latvian Connection – featurette including interviews with producer Edgar Ievins, casting person/actor Ilze Balodis, associate producer/special effects artist Ugis Nigals and Belial performer Kika Nigals
- Belial Goes to the Drive-In – interview with film critic Joe Bob Briggs
- Basket Case at MoMA – footage from the 2017 restoration premiere
- What’s in the Basket? – feature-length documentary covering the three films in the Basket Case series
- In Search of the Hotel Broslin – archival location featurette
- The Frisson of Fission: Basket Case, Conjoined Twins, and ‘Freaks’ in Cinema – video essay by Travis Crawford
- Slash of the Knife (1976, 30 mins) – short made by Frank Henenlotter featuring many of the same actors from Basket Case, including optional audio commentary with Frank Henenlotter and playwright Mike Bencivenga
- Basket Case and Slash of the Knife outtakes
- Belial’s Dream (2017, 5 mins) – animated short by filmmaker Robert Morgan
- Extensive image galleries
- Trailers, TV & radio spots
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sara Deck
- Collector’s booklet featuring writing on the film by Michael Gingold and a Basket Case comic strip by artist Martin Trafford
TAGLINES:
- Its mother conceived it… You won’t believe it…
- What is the secret Dwayne is hiding in the basket? Open it… if you dare!
- The tenant in room 7 is very small, very twisted and very mad.
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
RATING: Not Rated
RUN TIME: 91 Minutes
STUDIO: Arrow Video
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https://twitter.com/ArrowFilmsVideo
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083624/
https://www.amazon.com/Basket-Case-Limited-Ultra-UHD/dp/B0CT9F95B4/
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Bluebeard [1944]
Blu-ray
PRINCIPAL CAST: John Carradine, Jean Parker, Nils Asther, Ludwig Stössel
DIRECTOR: Edgar G. Ulmer
SYNOPSIS: Scream great John Carradine (The Black Sleep, House of the Long Shadows) stars in this eerie film noir version of the oft-told Bluebeard legend. Carradine is masterful as the dastardly Gaston, an artist and puppeteer in 19th-century Paris with a ghastly penchant for strangling lovely young models and surreptitiously slipping their bodies into the Seine. Gaston’s latest model, Lucille (Jean Parker, Black Tuesday), learns of his shocking secret and bravely vows to bring him to justice. Directed by the master of the strange and the spellbinding, Edgar G. Ulmer (The Black Cat, The Man from Planet X), who sustains a steady level of suspense throughout this most sinister of love stories. A dread-soaked dream for connoisseurs of classic horror and noir! Co-starring “the male Garbo” Nils Asther (By Candlelight).
Special Features:
- 2020 HD Master by Paramount Pictures – From a 4K Scan
- NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historians Gregory W. Mank and Tom Weaver
- NEW Audio Commentary by Film Historian David Del Valle
- Optional English Subtitles
TAGLINES:
- Terror Strikes!
- SHOULD HE KILL HER! OR SHOULD HE LOVE HER! (print ad – Lubbock Morning Avalanche – Palace Theatre – Lubbock, Texas – Feb. 4. 1945 – all caps)
- DON JUAN by DAY…KILLER by NIGHT! (Print Ad-Daily News, ((Los Angeles, Calif.)) 7/7/45)
- The most sinister love story ever told!
GENRE: Horror, Thriller, Crime
RATING: Not Rated
RUN TIME: 72 Minutes
STUDIO: KL Studio Classics
https://www.klstudioclassics.com/
https://www.facebook.com/KinoLorberStudioClassics/
https://twitter.com/KLStudioClassic
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036653/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CVJT93LT/
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Phantasmagoria
DVD
PRINCIPAL CAST: Rachel Audrey, Mari K.
DIRECTOR: Cosmotropia de Xam
SYNOPSIS:
Set in a grey, bleak and decrepit European town an American investigative journalist (Rachel Audrey) is looking into a series of macabre and strange phenomenon that have been impacting the local residents. She suspects that it is something in the water?
Audrey encounters a local girl, Valentina (Mari K), who, surrounded by caged birds and speaking in demonic riddles, warns of a great evil infecting the town. Then Diane starts to change… Phantasmagoria is like no other film you will have seen. Imagine Jean Rollin mashed with Borowczyk and then the resulting work re-imagined by Jess Franco – visual blasphemy!
Both films were restored in 2K by Waka Films in 2019 with the support of the Institut français – Cinémathèque Afrique and the CNC at Éclair Laboratories from the original negative.
Special Features:
- Five Episodes of Diane Cooper Investigates
- The Contaminated Photos of Valentina Crepax
- Q&A with Rachel Audrey & Mari K at BUT Film Festival
- Mater Suspiria Vision – Metamorfose der Bestien (Music Video)
- Original Trailer
- Stills Gallery
GENRE: Horror
RATING: Not Rated
RUN TIME: 71 Minutes
STUDIO: Redemption/Salvation Films
https://www.salvation-films.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Redemptionfilms666
https://www.instagram.com/redemptionfilms666/
https://twitter.com/RedemptionFilms
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6818526/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRWPSDL5/
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