Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Has Selected July 7 As The Release Date For Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of House Of Cards: The Complete Third Season

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will be bringing DVD and Blu-ray editions of House of Cards: The Complete Third Season to market on July 07. 
 

All 13 episodes will be spread over four discs with the Blu-ray SKU featuring UltraViolet Digital Copy … as to bonus features, there is the behind-the-scenes featurette titled "Backstage Politics" and exclusive to the Blu-ray SKU is the featurette titled "A Death in Mexico."

Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) quickly discovers that scheming to be the President of the United States and actually being the president are two very different animals … the crown of power sits uneasy upon the head of this “Machiavelli.”

Paramount Home Media's The Dovekeepers On DVD And Blu-ray This Coming July 14

Paramount Home Media Distribution announced this past week that director Yves Simoneau’s mini-series adaptation of Alice Hoffman’s best-selling novel, The Dovekeepers, will be available as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings on July 14.

The fabled siege of Masada is seen through the eyes of three women trapped in the mountain-top fortress — Shirah (Cote de Pablo — best known as agent Ziva David on NCIS television series), Yael (Rachel Brosnahan — House of Cards, Beautiful Creatures) and Aziza (Kathryn Prescott — Finding Carter, Skins).  

Sam Neill — in something of a dramatic invention — plays Josephus, the Roman scholar who reported on the events and upon whose account historians rely on to understand what happened during General Lucius Flavius Silva’s extended siege of the seemingly impregnable fortress. 

Bonus features include the 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette titled “Taking Flight: The Dovekeepers.”

Indican Pictures 7 In The Torture Chamber Ready For DVD On May 26

Indican Pictures has tabbed May 26 as the DVD release date for director Griff Furst’s serial killer blood fest, 7 in the Torture Chamber.

Poor Madison (Lina Esco — LOL, Heroes: Destiny), she thinks she’s planned the perfect escape from her parents and a potential stint in some hellish prison (aka: boarding school) for troubled teens.   The plan for her is to spend the summer at the Crystal Lake Treatment Center, where young women are given a second chance to get back on the right path, or as Madison puts it, “rock climbing with crazy chicks.”

Little does she realize she’s joined what is commonly referred to in the horror genre as a “victim’s pool” … you know, a group of friends, a selection of random strangers, or, in this case, other nubile young women like herself that will quickly become the victims of the local serial killer known simply as “The President” (he wears a presidential mask).

Madison’s fate is foreshadowed when “The President” comes calling on one of the town’s locals — a lovely little blonde — who is knocked unconscious, tied to the kitchen table and, skillfully — using just kitchen implements — he removes her face.   

She settles in with the creepy “guards” (red herrings) and the other would-be victims (some sex-capades and other sexploitation frivolity) and soon enough the fun begins in earnest as “The President” comes knocking.   Who lives?  Who dies?   One thing is for certain … Crystal Lake is going to need some fresh victims for next summer!

Olive Films Sets Seven For DVD And Blu-ray Release On June 23

Olive Films announced a truly eclectic blend of film releases for both DVD and Blu-ray that will be retail-ready on June 23.

There’s action, mystery, sci-fi and comedy … something for just about everyone in this seven-strong selection of theatrical releases.

On the sci-fi front we have writer/director Lee Frost’s cult classic, The Thing with Two Heads, teaming — literally speaking — Ray Milland with former Los Angeles Rams football star Roosevelt Grier.   Grier is a condemned-to-die murdered (innocent, of course) Jack Moss, who agrees to become the guinea pig in a bizarre “scientific” experience … when he awakes he finds that wealthy industrialist (and racist to boot) Maxwell Kirshner’s head has been attached to his body!

For action fans, Olive Films has both director Kevin Hooks’ 1996 film release of Fled, teaming Laurence Fishburne as Piper with Stephen Baldwin as Dodge, who are escaped prisoners chained together (think: The Defiant Ones) and on the run (one catch, Dodge has stolen millions from the mob and they want it back) and director Craig R. Baxley’s Stone Cold, starring Brian “The Boz” Bosworth as a too-mean police officer (suspended for the rough stuff), who is recruited by the feds to take down a drug-dealing biker gang!

Mystery and suspense, is that what you desire?   Then look no further that Olive Films June 23 DVD and Blu-ray release of director Phillip Borsos’ 1985 film adaptation of John Katzenbach’s novel, “In the Heat of the Summer” … retitled for the screen as The Mean Season.

Kurt Russell stars as reporter Malcolm Anderson, who just happens to be in direct contact with a serial killer.   That’s a double-edge sword, a great source for Anderson’s coverage of “The Numbers Killer,” but one that will certainly, at some point put him (or someone close to him) in jeopardy!   That someone turns out to be Christine (Mariel Hemingway), his “girlfriend.”   So who is the killer … and how close has he gotten to Anderson?   

Comedy, we have a collector’s edition of director Jessy Terrero’s Soul Plane (theatrical and unrated viewing options), with Kevin Hart, Snoop Dog and Mo'Nique and filmmaker Bud Smith’s 1988 football-themed comedy, Johnny Be Good, teaming Anthony Michael Hall with Robert Downey Jr. and Uma Thurman.

And last, but not least, Olive Films will be turning loose both DVD and Blu-ray editions of Thrashin’ … Josh Brolin, fresh from his debut in Goonies, stars as a skateboarding sensation (seriously) who comes into conflict with a mean streets group of skateboarders known as the Daggers.   To compound his problems, he’s in love with Chrissy (Pamela Gidley — Cherry 2000, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me), the sister of a Dagger named Tommy (Robert Rusler)!!!

Mill Creek Entertainment Preps Classic Horror And Sci-Fi Collections For DVD Release On July 21

Mill Creek Entertainment has a sweet deal ready and waiting for fans of classic sci-fi and horror flicks on July 21.   For just $14.98 each (and that’s before discounts at retail), genre fans can snap-up the four-film collection titled Classic Horror, or the six-film set titled Vintage Sci-Fi Movies.

Classic Horror contains director Anthony Bushell’s 1961 Hammer Films release of The Terror of the Tongs, starring Christopher Lee as the no-mercy Chung King, the head of the Hong Kong-based Red Dragon Tong.   Murder and torture for this villain has no boundries!

Christopher Lee is joined by another icon of horror and the macabre, Vincent Price, who stars as Gallico the Great in director John Brahm’s 1954 tale of murder, The Mad Magician.   Mary Murphy (The Desperate Hours), Patrick O'Neal and Eva Gabor are his co-stars.

Rounding this four-film collection are director László Kardos’ 1957 film release of The Man Who Turned to Stone, starring Victor Jory as the 200-year old Dr. Murdock who sadistically drains the life out of captive teenagers who are prisoners at the La Salle Detention Home for Girls and Arch Oboler’s 1951 post-atomic holocaust tale, Five.

The six-film collection titled Vintage Sci-Fi Movies kicks off with director Fred F. Sears’ 1957 earth-shaking thriller, The Night the World Exploded (timed perfectly for this summer’s earth-shaker, San Andreas).   

The 27^th Day has five members from the United Nations — including Gene Berry and The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake) — whisked away by alien invaders and given the ultimate weapon, the power to destroy millions by just thinking about it.   Will they succumb to this temptation?

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Director David Bradley’s 1960 film release of 12 to the Moon has a international team of scientists locked in deadly conflict with an alien intelligence that has concluded that mankind is too puny to continue.   

The H-Man is a 1958 (1959 domestic release) and Battle in Outer Space is from the following year (1960 domestic market) and are both Japanese imports from Toho Studios that were dubbed in English for theatrical release and proved to be surprisingly effective and well-received by the intended audience of the day.

Lastly, writer/director Edward Bernds’ Valley of the Dragons was released theatrically in November of 1961 near the end of the “Jules Verne cycle” (From Earth to the Moon, 1958; Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1959; Master of the World, 1961; and Mysterious Island, also 1961) … it was the least commercial of the group, but nevertheless remains an interesting flight of fancy (dinosaurs on the moon? … who knew!).

For more information on these July 21 DVD priced-to-collect releases — and more — please be sure to visit Mill Creek Entertainment’s website at millcreekent.com.

The Film Chest Teams With Topic Entertainment For That Show With Joan Rivers On June 23

The Film Chest teams with Topic Entertainment for the June 23 release of a four-disc DVD collection of That Show With Joan Rivers.  

In September of 1968 WNBC in New York began airing a 30-minute celebrity guest show hosted by comedian Joan Rivers … it was simply titled That Show.  Each segment opened with the Rivers doing a stand-up monologue, which was followed by the arrival of a guest celebrity, who were tasked with providing insights on a wide-range of topics.

The Film Chest has assembled 29 of these classic episodes, which includes such guests as Johnny Carson discussing nudism, Soupy Sales providing hilarious tips on wallpaper, Rita Moreno with her subject, dreams, and Barbara Walters — of all people — on the subject of “boating safety.”   Even Ed Sullivan, Florence Henderson, Lily Tomlin and James Earl Jones join in on the fun … and all in glorious color!!!

Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Well Go USA's For The Emperor To Be Released On July 7

Well Go USA has added Blu-ray and DVD editions of director Park Sang-joon’s (aka: Park Sang-jun) neo-noir thriller, For the Emperor, to its July 7 release calendar (already set for that street-date Tuesday is writer/director Gren Wells’ award-winning road trip comedy, The Road Within).   

Set in modern day Busan, South Korea, we meet disgraced professional ballplayer, the baby faced Lee Hwan (Lee Min-ki — Monster, Tidal Wave, Spellbound), who has been banished from the game for illegal betting activities.   

 With few options, Lee digs even deeper into the underbelly of the city’s vices and is easily recruited by Jung Sang-ha (Park Sung-woong), the gangster head of Emperor Capital, a “money-lending” company (loan sharks; shylocks) that uses brutality and murder to enforce its lending contracts.   

Don’t let his youthful appearance fool you, he’s a stone cold killer, who is handy with a blade and is never shy in using it.   But what is that time-honored expression, something about: “He who lives by the sword …”

The Film Detective Adds Six Film Restorations To Its May 12 Release Calendar

The Film Detective announced this past week that six additional film restorations have been added to its May 12 DVD release calendar … and all at the priced-to-own SRP of just $9.98.

Leading the way is the 1940 all-star film release of This is the Army, directed by Michael Curtiz and starring George Murphy, Joan Leslie, Kate Smith and future president, Ronald Reagan.

Continuing in the “entertainment-themed” realm we find The Fabulous Dorseys — director Alfred E. Green’s post-war biopic starring Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey as themselves, Springtime in the Rockies (1942) with Betty Grable, Carman Miranda, Cesar Romero, John Payne and Harry James and His Music-Makers and the all-black musical drama Duke is Tops (1938 with Lena Horne).

For Western fans it is John Wayne in the saddle in West of the Divide (1934, with Gabby Hayes and Yakima Canutt) and on the mystery front we have the legendary Boris Karloff starring as detective James Lee Wong in director William Nigh’s 1939 release of The Mystery of Mr. Wong.

Lost For Words Debuts On DVD From Green Apple Entertainment On June 23

Love is where you find it.   In the case of Green Apple Entertainment’s June 23 DVD debut of writer/director Stanley J. Orzel’s Lost for Words, the “where” is Hong Kong, but that’s easy part.

Michael (Sean Faris — Freerunner, Ghost Machine) is the recruited star of an elaborate Hong Kong-based ballet production and the goal of the creative foces is to find him a co-star … a magnificent dancer to match his skills.    

But one glance at Anna (Grace Huang — The Man with the Iron Fists 1 & 2) and his mate is found, but her dancing skills are considered only “adequate” by the show’s producers.

If “adequate” dancing skillers was the only problem, then Lost for Words wouldn’t be much of a film.  No, his meet-cute love affair with Anna is fraught with social, religious and cultural minefields … and the politics of both China and the stage are at play at well.   Will love win out?

Arrow Video Tabs July 21 For The Release Of A Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Edition Of Actor/Writer/Director Robert Hossein’s 1969 Spaghetti Western, Cemetery Without Crosses

Arrow Video, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a brand restoration of actor/writer/director Robert Hossein’s 1969 Spaghetti Western, Cemetery Without Crosses (aka: The Colt and the Rope), ready for its domestic debut as a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack on July 21.

Teaming with horror icon Dario Argento, who co-wrote the script, Robert Hossein stars as a loner — who lives quite appropriately in a ghost town — with a checkered past.   His solitude is interrupted when Maria (Michèle Mercier — Shoot the Piano Player, Angélique, etc.) rides into town and recruits him — she is a former love interest — to revenge the brutal murder of her husband.  

With few words, a six-shooter and a lone black leather glove — and without ever breaking a smile — he teams with the avenging vixen in a murder scheme of her own that doesn’t go exactly as planned.  Cemetery Without Crosses is a minimalist entry in the Spaghetti Western genre with a French-twist, but regardless of its style or origins, it delivers exactly what fans of the genre demand.  

Bonus features include both the original Italian language track (with newly prepared English subtitles) as well as an English-dubbed viewing option, plus there’s a new video session with star and director Robert Hossein, a vintage French TV segment containing interviews with Robert Hossein, Michèle Mercier and Serge Marquand and a second vintage interview session with Hossein.