New DVD • Blu-ray • 4K Ultra HD Activity For The Period Ending December 01, 2023

 New DVD Additions

 

Acorn Media
11/28/23 — Released Chelsea Detective: Series 2 (2 disc set)

Altered Innocence
11/28/23 — Released Astrakan (French)

Asian Cult Cinema (MOD)
11/21/23 — Released Doctor Justice (French) and Tormented Love House (Thai)
11/28/23 — Released Alejandro Jodorowsky Archives (6 short films: La Cravate, Viva la Vagina, He! Viva Dada, Disourbara, The Tarot, The Voice Thief), Don't Go Out (Tagalog) and Erotic Crushing Female Hunk (Spanish)

B Film Nut (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Mystery of the White Room, Mystery Ranch, Roger Touch, Gangster, Shadow and Studio Murder Mystery (silent-1929)

BCSN (MOD)
11/21/23 — Released 2023 - Football: Division III State Semi-Final - Chardon vs. Central Catholic, 2023 - Girls Basketball: Southview vs. Northview and 2023 - Girls Volleyball District VII All Star Game, Division 1 Southview vs. Northview
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - Boys Basketball: SMCC vs Huron, 2023 - Girls Basketball: Clear Fork vs. Bellevue, 2023 - Girls Basketball: Huron vs. Sandusky, 2023 - High School Bowling: Toledo Metro League, 2023 - Hockey: St. John's vs. Perryburg, 2023 - Swimming: Amherst Steele vs. Margaretta and 2023 - Wrestling: Jim Derr Invitational Championship Round  

Baek 3840 (MOD)
11/14/23 — Released It Takes Two, Jolene, King and the Mockingbird, Seven Samurai (Japanese), They Shoot Horses Don't They? and Twilight for the Gods
11/21/23 — Released Breaking Away and Burnt Offerings

Billy Molls Adventures, LLC
11/28/23 — Released The River, Secret Handshake, Way Back and We Saw Jesus

Bridgestone Multimedia (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Fragile Heart

Buck Cody (MOD)
11/14/23 — Released Three Mesquiteers Movies Set #7 (7 film set: Under Texas Skies, The Trail Blazers, Lone Star Raiders, Prairie Pioneers, Pals of the Pecos, Saddlemates, Gangs of Sonora) (7 disc set), Three Mesquiteers Movies Set #8 (7 film set: Outlaws of the Cherokee Trail, Gauchos of Eldorado, West of Cimarron, Code of the Outlaw, Raiders of the Range, Westward Ho, The Phantom Plainsmen) (7 disc set) and Three Mesquiteers Movies Set #9 (6 film set: Shadows on the Sage, Thundering Trails, Valley of Hunted Men, The Blocked Trail, Santa Fe Scouts, Riders of the Rio Grande) (6 disc set)
11/28/23 — Released Deadly Record, Ghost Camera, Party Wire and Unearthly

Burning Bulb (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Vinnie's Vantastic Rock And Roll Adventure

Capital Community Media (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - City of Salem Council Meeting and 2023 - Marion County Commissioners Meeting

City of Tacoma (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - Tacoma City Council Meeting

Championship Productions
11/21/23 — Released 7 Proven Ways to Guard a Ball Screen and Bruce Weber's Team Development & Offensive Efficiency, Shooting Drills, Transition, Set Plays & More
11/28/23 — Released Harnessing the Power of VLaMax to Enhance Middle Distance/Distance Running Performance

Changing Your World (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Crazy Expectations (5 disc set), Jesus is the Reason for the Season (5 disc set), Revelation of Grace (8 disc set), Sunday Service, Wednesday Morning Service, Wednesday Night Service and Worthy Walk (4 disc set)

Cheol9260696 (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Come September, Holy Inquisition (Spanish), Kings Go Forth and Sinbad, the Sailor

Christian Worship Hour (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Christian Worship Hour: The Ministry of Prayer - Matthew 6:5-8

Dartmouth Community Media (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - Football: Fairhaven vs. Dartmouth

DVDRParty (MOD)
11/21/23 — Released Chappaqua
11/28/23 — Released Darna vs. the Planet Women (Tagalog),
Films of Jacques Brunius, Volume 1 (Around an Escape (French), plus 3 short films: Violins D'Ingres, Records 37, Black Sources), Jingle Cats and John Lennon & Yoko Ono: Complete Promo Collection (4 disc set)

EBTV (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - East Brunswick Board of Education Meeting and 2023 - East Brunswick Township Council Meeting

ETV (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - Advisory Planning Commission, 2023 - Boys Hockey: Eagan vs. Park and 2023 - Wrestling: Eagan vs. Burnsville

EWTN
11/21/23 — Released Women of Grace: Cassie Everts - Miscarriage: When the Baby Doesn't Come
11/28/23 — Released EWTN Live: Scott Hahn, Women of Grace: Father Luck Mary Fletcher and World Over with Raymond Navarro: Edward Pentin

Edify Films
11/14/23 — Released Earthquake and the Son of God and Star of Bethlehem Revealed
11/28/23 — Released God of Heaven and Earth (ARR of 25 days; box office estimate: $20,000)

Elvis DVD Collector & Movie Store (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 5 Fingers, Bomba, the Jungle Boy and Elvis: He'll Have to Go

Freestyle Digital Media (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Disorder

Grapevine Video (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Glorious Lady (silent-1919)

Hallmark Entertainment (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Feeling of Home

I-Cine
11/07/23 — Released Ben Do Lieu Xieu (12 disc set), Bien Nho Thien Di (14 disc set), Cap Doi Cahn Sat (10 disc set), Mong Hoa Luc (16 disc set), Nguyet Ca Hanh (14 disc set) and Trach Quan Ky (12 disc set)

Indie Rights (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Bang Bang Betty, Valerie's Revenge

Lionsgate Home Entertainment
11/28/23 — Released Ancient Aliens: Season 18 (2 disc set)

MHz Home Entertainment
11/28/23 — Released Magellan: The Complete Series (20 disc set) and Mongeville: The Complete Series (14 disc set)

Media Outlet (MOD)
11/21/23 — Released Scams, Schemes & Scoundrels: James Randi vs. Con Men
11/28/23 — Released Battle of Tarawa and War Jets: The Mikoyan MiG-25 Foxbat

Movie Time Video - Sakura TV Productions
11/28/23 — Released Ice Fantasy (15 disc set), In the Name of the People (10 disc set), Old Boy (9 disc set), Princess Welyoung (10 disc set), Singing All Along (10 disc set) and Three Heroes and Five Gallants (12 disc set)

Naxos
11/28/23 — Released Prokofiev: Cinderella - Royal Opera Company

PBS Direct
11/28/23 — Released 20 Days in Mariupol, Iconic America: Our Symbols and Stories with David Rubenstein (2 disc set) and World on Fire: Season Two (2 disc set)

PCN Productions (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - PIAA Field Hockey 1A Championship, 2023 - PIAA Field Hockey 2A Championship, 2023 - PIAA Field Hockey 3A Championship, 2023 - PIAA Girls 1A Volleyball Championship, 2023 - PIAA Girls 2A Volleyball Championship, 2023 - PIAA Girls 3A Volleyball Championship and 2023 - PIAA Girls 4A Volleyball Championship

Samuel Goldwyn Films
11/28/23 — Released Bocelli Family Christmas and Surprised by Oxford (ARR of 60 days; box office estimate: $20,000)

Shout! Studios
11/28/23 — Released Among Wolves

Strand Releasing
11/28/23 — Released More Than Ever (French)

The Teaching Company, LLC
11/28/23 — Released Field Guide to North American Wildlife (2 disc set) and Many Worlds of Quantum Mechanics

Uncork’d Entertainment (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Allegiance of Powers, Besetment, Blindsided, Bunnyman Vengeance, Closer to God, Coven, Deep in the Wood, Deliver Us, Entanglement, Goran (Croatian), Humanpersons, Judas Ghost, Krampus: The Reckoning, Lifechanger, Lone Wolves and Metalface

Vision Films (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Alien Intervention, Caralique and Forever Young

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Ent.
11/28/23 — Released Riverdale: The Seventh and Final Season (4 disc set) and Sandman: The Complete First Season (3 disc set)

Well Go USA
11/28/23 — Released Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman (Cantonese)

Wood Dale Collective (MOD)
11/21/23 — Released Escape of the Seven (5 disc set) and My Dearest 3 (4 disc set)
11/28/23 — Released Chase the Truth (4 disc set), Story of Kunning Palace (6 disc set) and Wonderland of Love (6 disc set)

Yellow Veil Pictures
11/28/23 — Released Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation (Arabic)

Zapruderflix (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Trap

Zeus Video (MOD)
11/14/23 — Released Pink Panther, Police, Adjective, Pinky and Picture of Dorian Gray
11/28/23 — Released Moguls & Movie Stars: Fade Out, Fade In, Pagan Love Song, Paid, Paranoid Park, Party, Pather Panchali (Bengali), Permanent Green Light (French), Phase IV, Phone Call From a Stranger, Pictures of the Old World (Slovak), Pillow Book, Postman Always Rings Twice, Power of the Press, Pressing On: The Letterpress Film, Pretty Baby, Primal Fear, Project Almanac, Project Nim and Psychopath

New Blu-ray Additions

AGFA
11/28/23 — Released Godmonster of Indian Flats

Altered Innocence
11/28/23 — Released Astrakan (French)

Arrow Video
02/13/23 — Sets Fear is the Key: Limited Edition

Asuka the Disc Dog (Fred the Blu-ray Dog) (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Candy Cane Lane, Culprits: Season 1, Doll Factory: Season 1, Family Switch, Faraway Downs, Ghosts: Season 2, I Dream of Mimi: The Complete OVA Series, Shepherd and Virgin River: Season 5

Burning Bulb (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Vinnie's Vantastic Rock and Roll Adventure

Capital Community Media (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - City of Salem Council Meeting and 2023 - Marion County Commissioners Meeting

City of Tacoma (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - Tacoma City Council Meeting

Dark Star Pictures
11/28/23 — Released Larry Clark's Marfa Girl 1 & 2

Dartmouth Community Media (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - Football: Fairhaven vs. Dartmouth

Deaf Crocodile Films
11/28/23 — Released Cat City (Hungarian)

Dekanalog
11/28/23 — Released Taking

EBTV (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - East Brunswick Board of Education Meeting and 2023 - East Brunswick Township Council Meeting

ETR Media
11/28/23 — Released Pretending I'm a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story

ETV (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - Advisory Planning Commission, 2023 - Boys Hockey: Eagan vs. Park and 2023 - Wrestling: Eagan vs. Burnsville

Factory 25
11/28/23 — Released Happer's Comet

Gemini Entertainment (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Sense Of Place, A Sense Of Time/ Summer Colony

Hollinsworth Productions (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Rising Light

Indie Rights (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Bang Bang Betty, Valerie's Revenge

Kino Lorber
11/28/23 — Released Carpetbaggers, Emerald Forest, Last Tycoon, Monk: Season One (4 disc set), Monster Squad and Valmont

Lifesize Entertainment
12/12/23 — Sets Distant Tales

Media Blasters
11/28/23 — Released Ninja Vs. Shark (Japanese)

Metrograph Pictures
11/28/23 — Released Boyfriends and Girlfriends (French)

Movies R USA (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Air Force One, Best. Christmas. Ever!, Chernobyl, Do Not Disturb, Forgotten Experiment (Russian), Freelance, Good Burger 2, Holdovers, House of Cards: Seasons 1 - 3 (4 disc set), House of Cards: Seasons 4 - 6 (4 disc set), Killer, La Cage Aux Folles - Live, Lady Ballers , Lost Flowers of Alice Hart: Season 1 (2 disc set), Monster Hunt: 3D (English Language Version), Morning Show: The Complete Third Season, Mouse Hunt, Naughty Nine, Nowhere (Spanish), Nun, Nun II , Padre Pio, Polite Society, Prince of Egypt: The Musical - Live from the West End, Reptile , Runaway Train, Spirited, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Complete Series (7 disc set), Talk to Me, Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (French), Tower: Seasons 1 & 2 (2 disc set), Veronica Mars: Seasons 1 & 2 (4 disc set), Winter King: Season 1, World on Fire: Season 1 (3 disc set), Z Nation: Seasons 1 - 3 (4 disc set) and Z Nation: Seasons 4 & 5 (4 disc set)

PBS Direct
11/28/23 — Released World on Fire: Season Two (2 disc set)

PCN Productions (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released 2023 - PIAA Field Hockey 1A Championship, 2023 - PIAA Field Hockey 2A Championship, 2023 - PIAA Field Hockey 3A Championship, 2023 - PIAA Girls 1A Volleyball Championship, 2023 - PIAA Girls 2A Volleyball Championship, 2023 - PIAA Girls 3A Volleyball Championship and 2023 - PIAA Girls 4A Volleyball Championship

Quality X
11/28/23 — Released Joy

Raro Video USA, Ltd.
11/28/23 — Released Conformist: 4K Restoration (Italian)

Saturn’s Core Audio & Video
11/28/23 — Released Double Feature (2 film set: Hayride Slaughter, Halloween Horrors)

Sentai Filmworks
11/28/23 — Released Management of a Novice Alchemist: The Complete Collection (2 disc set) and Tsurune: The Linking Shot Season 2 (2 disc set)

Severin Films
02/27/23 — Sets The Dead One

The Film Desk
11/28/23 — Released La Guerre est Finie (French)

Umbrella Entertainment
11/28/23 — Released Blown Away, FP Collection (4 film set: The FP, FP 2: Beats of Rage, FP 3: Escape from Bako, FP 4: EVZ) (2 disc set), Double Feature (2 film set: Inn of the Damned, Night of Fear), Frank Herbert's Dune: Complete Collection (2 mini series: Dune, Children of Dune) (4 disc set), Lord of Illusions (2 disc set), Red Rock West and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Collection (3 film set: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Secret of the Ooze, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Turtles in Time) (3 disc set)

Uncork’d Entertainment (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Lifechanger

Universal Music Group - Mercury
11/28/23 — Released Simple Minds: Acoustic in Concert (Blu-ray/CD Combo Pack)

Utopia
11/28/23 — Released Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)

VHShitfest
11/28/23 — Released Psycho Paul's Film Festival

Vision Films (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Jack L. Warner: The Last Mogul

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
11/28/23 — Released Holes: 20th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy), Sandlot: 30th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy) and WandaVision: The Complete Series (2 disc set)

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Ent.
11/28/23 — Released Sandman: Complete First Season (3 disc set)

Well Go USA
11/28/23 — Released Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman (Cantonese)

Wood Dale Collective (MOD)
11/21/23 — Released Luck, Alice in Borderland (4 disc set), Angels' Share, Beyonce Classic Music Concert Series (3 concerts: Beyonce: I Am … World Tour, I Am … Yours: An Intimate Performance at Wynn, Las Vegas, The Beyounce Experience Live) (3 disc set), Beyonce Experience: Live at Staples Centre, Chase the Truth (2 disc set), China from Above (2 disc set), Dark Blue World (Czech), Doi Boy (Thai), Encounters at the End of the World, Ghosts of War, Good Witch: The Complete Series (16 disc set), Hard Days (Japanese), I Spit on Your Grave Collection (4 film set: I Spit on Your Grave, I Spit on Your Grave 2, I Spit on Your Grave: Vengeance is Mine, I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà Vu) (4 disc set), Last Call for Istanbul (Turkish), Life of Mammals (2 disc set), Lion-Girl , Meeting Gorbachev, Michael Jackson Classic Concert Series (8 disc set), Noel, Obliterated: Season 1 (2 disc set), Old Oak, Only for Love (3 disc set), Our Universe (2 disc set), Plan A, Pride and Glory, Story of Kunning Palace (4 disc set), Taylor Swift: Journey to Fearless, Terms of Endearment, Trolls Band Together, Vigilante (2 disc set), Walking Sleeping Beauty, Warhorse One and Wonderland of Love (4 disc set)

Yellow Veil Pictures
11/28/23 — Released Ashkal: The Tunisian Investigation (Arabic)

Zapruderflix (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Trap

 

 

New 4K Ultra HD Additions

 

Canadian International Pictures
11/28/23 — Released East End Hustle (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack)

Vinegar Syndrome
11/28/23 — Released Bloodsucking Freaks (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack), Mark of the Devil (4K Ultra HD/2 Blu-ray Combo Pack) and Mother's Day (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (Italian)

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
11/28/23 — Released WandaVision: The Complete Series (2 disc set)

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Ent. (MOD)
11/28/23 — Released Sandman: Complete First Season (2 disc set)







 

The Directing Team Of Jake C. Young And Kenny Scott Guffey's The Dark Room On Blu-ray From Bayview Entertainment On Dec. 26

Bayview Entertainment announced this past week that the filmmaking team of Jake C. Young and Kenny Scott Guffey’s sinister thriller, The Dark Room, will be making its Blu-ray debut on Dec. 26.

So here is the question.  The puzzle, if you will, is Ezra Jones (played by writer/director Jake C. Young — Black Wolf, A Night of the Undead, First Draw) having a mental breakdown?   

In a small town (filmed in and around Russell Springs, Kentucky) there have been a series of gruesome murders.   Bloody decapitations!!   Ezra is a local photographer and technician and the last thing on his mind is the who and the what of these killings, that falls to his sister McKenna (Brianna Phipps), a local cop.

That all begins to change when he gets a delivery of film from an attractive, if somewhat, strange woman by the name of Audrey (played by scream queen, Kayla Perkins — Maura the Vampire Princess, Mr. Buzzkill, The Wicked One) to process.   

That’s what he does, no big deal … just another order, but what he discovers when he processes the film unnerves him.   To be honest, Ezra likes the solitary of taking pictures and the alone time in the dark room, so when this patch of films is dumped into his lap it is much akin to a giant boulder being dumped into a little pond.   Splash!

Somehow the local preacher is involved.   And the attractive, strange woman begins to dog Ezra.   Is this real?   Or worse, he is being set up to be the next sacrifice?

Young and Guffey have served up a tasty horror tale that plays out as a mystery … imagine someone with the mental stability of a Norman Bates playing amateur detective and you can get a sense — without giving too much more away — as to where The Dark Room is headed.

 

 

Severin Films Has A New 2K Scan Of Director Barry Mahon's The Dead One Ready For A Blu-ray Push On Feb. 27

Obscure.  Fun.  Horror.  That’s what Severin Films, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, is serving up on Feb. 27 with the new 2K scan (from the Interpositive) of director Barry Mahon’s 1961 zombie classic, The Dead One.

Two important items here with this Blu-ray product offering from Severin.  First, this is the first time, VHS, DVD, etc., where the film is being presented in the proper aspect ratio.  Next, the Eastmancolor should absolutely pop.  Aspect and color … you can safely retire that 20-year-old DVD edition (note, retire, don’t discard).

Zombie movies have been a staple since the 1930s (White Zombie, Revolt of the Zombies, etc.), but what makes Mahon’s film special is that is was the first one in color (depending on where you saw it … Doctor Blood’s Coffin might have arrived in the local market first).   The film had a checkered release … limited prints being bicycled from market to market.   

And, for a number of years it was thought to be lost.

If you are a genre fan, this might be your first opportunity to add this rarity to your sci-fi, horror and fantasy film library.   Do so.

As to bonus goodies, there’s a vintage audio interview with film distributor Samuel M. Sherman and the featurette titled “The Crazy Wild and Crazy Life of Barry Mahon.”

 

 

 

Irrational Distribution Dominates Apple+ Handling Of Auteur Filmmaker Martin Scorsese's Killers Of The Flower Moon

It is a mystery as to why perfectly reasonable and rational people would sign on to the cult of streaming to the detriment of their own financial best interests.

Take for example auteur filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s sure-to-be-Oscar nominated Killers of the Flower Moon.   It’s an over-budget film production from Apple TV, which is notorious for streaming films and series on its platform and then burying them.   

CODA was also nominated Best Picture … and it won, but it has yet to see the light as a legitimate physical media release.   

Scorsese’s film opened theatrically on Oct. 20 nationwide and has pulled in $66.5 million thus far (against a reported production budget of $200 million).   That’s a good start at gnawing away the red ink (which Apple TV dismisses as “advertising”).   

Instead of securing DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD unit sales — which they would control — the company elected to feed the streaming beast (VOD) and bypass the high profit margin physical media revenue stream that would have further cut into the red ink, and, in the process lowered the company’s “advertising costs.”   

The result, within hours the “helper” community (aka: pirates; aka: bootleggers) were out with Blu-ray copies of their own.   The packaging was slick and consumers who frequent these wrong-side-of-the-tracks establishments have likely been there before and got pretty much what they wanted (nice packaging too, pristine master supplied by Apple TV).

Apple TV could have sold the “paperback” edition (VOD) and at any time to those who don’t go to theatres or buy physical media, but choose instead to sully the marketplace with bootleg copies (of good quality — none of that hand-held camcorder stuff of years gone by).   Foolish.

Lifeside Entertainment's Blu-ray Edition Of Director Shem Bitterman's Distant Tales On Dec. 12

Lifesize Entertainment will be streeting a Blu-ray edition of director Shem Bitterman’s social-statement, sci-fi film, Distant Tales, on Dec. 12.

Drawing heavily on the draconian restrictions of the recent Covid pandemic, Bitterman takes us on a near-future journey where “events” unfold that forbid the face-to-face interaction with others.   Instead, everyone interacts in zoom-like encounters, which being innocently enough — how are you, how’s your day going, remember when we … etc. — and soon proved to be very isolating.

Bitterman’s film is broken down into four inter-actions variously titled “Placebo” (featuring Carolyn Michelle Smith and Amen Igbinsoun) “Please Log On” (teaming Liz Fenning with Rupak Ginn), “Touch” (Tiffany Wolff and Samuel Martin Lewis are joined by Alaska Jack) and “R Nought” (with Christopher Curry, Ben Bowen and Megan Gallaher).

As each of these “encounters” play out, the participants seem to become lonely, desperate and … for some, unhinged.   

Arrow Video Targets Feb.13 For A Blu-ray Edition Of Suzy Kendall's Fear Is The Key

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a newly-minted Blu-ray edition of Michael Tuckner’s 1972 film adaptation of the Alistar MacLean thriller, Fear is the Key, lined up for delivery in the New Year … Feb. 13 to be exact.

Cross and double-cross are the elements of this high-octane thriller, but for genre fans it is the presence of Suzy Kendall that is an extra incentive to check out this Blu-ray release from Arrow on Valentine’s eve.

She arrived on the cinematic radar as Gillian in the 1967 film hit, To Sir, With Love, but one year earlier she appeared opposite Christopher Lee as Natasha in Psycho-Circus.   That’s the film where the love affair with Suzy Kendall and genre fans first developed.

Kendall was Julia in Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, as Jane in Hayers’ Assault (aka: In the Devil’s Garden), followed by Torso and Tales that Witness Madness, both in 1973.   The same year also saw her as “Mother Superior” in writer/director Domenico Paolella’s Story of a Cloistered Nun.

Horror and Nunsploitation, say no more … there were two more ‘70s arrivals, as Barbara in Spasmo and finally Freddie Francis’ Craze (featuring Kendall, Julie Ede and Diana Dors) and that was it.

Here, she is a “kidnap” victim (an elaborate ruse), snatched by John Talbot, played by the late Barry Newman — who had just clicked as Kowalski in director Richard Sarafian’s Vanishing Point — in the middle of his courtroom appearance for a bar fight.   

One thing leads to another, which all spins around a submerged airplane, a fortune in diamonds, Kendall’s father, a ruthless “businessman” (Ray McAnally), Vyland, who is his “associate” (John Vernon), an “enforcer” (Ben Kingsley in his film debut) and the random “retired” cop by the name of Herman Jablonski (Dolph Sweet), who rescues Kendall, and turns her kidnapper over to her father.   

Just getting started … Fear is the Key is a non-stop twisted action/mystery, which is just fine.  However, it’s because of genre fan favorite Suzy Kendall that this Blu-ray edition from Arrow Video will get even more “action.”

Bonus goodies include a newly prepared commentary with film critic Howard S. Berger and four production featurettes — “A Different Kind of Spy Game,” “Fear is the Key of Budd,” “Bayou to Bray” and “Producing the Action.”