Arrow Video To Release A Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Edition Of Director Yasuharu Hasebe’s Massacre Gun On Apr. 7

Arrow Video, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has two new Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack product offerings ready for release during the month of April.

Japanese filmmaker Yasuharu Hasebe’s 1967 Yakuza crime drama, Massacre Gun, has been unearthed and will be released for the first time to the domestic home entertainment market place on Apr. 7.   A new hi-def transfer, plus a newly prepared English subtitle translation mark this ultra-rare Blu-ray/DVD release. 

Jô Shishido (Gate of Flesh, Temptation, Branded to Kill, etc.) stars as a mob hitman, who is forced to carry out an assignment that turns him against his “master” … a trail of blood and intercine warfare follows that numbs the mind.

Bonus features here include a newly-minted video interview with the film’s star, Jô Shishido, a video interview session with film critic and historian Tony Rayns and a photo gallery of promotional materials.

The following week, Apr. 14, Arrow Video is back with a Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack presentation of Italian filmmaker Mario Bava’s 1964 horror classic, Blood and Black Lace.

Genre fans will have two viewing options for this newly-restored Slasher/Giallo masterpiece.  The original Italian-language presentation (complete with newly-prepared English subtitles) or the English-dubbed domestic theatrical version released in the United States by Allied Artists in 1965.

The Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack comes loaded with extras.  These include commentary from Mario Bava biographer Tim Lucas, four production featurettes, an alternative English-dubbed opening (from filmmaker Joe Dante’s private collection) and the original theatrical trailer.

VCI Entertainment To Release On Mar. 10 The DVD Double Feature Of My Dog Shep And Shep Comes Home

VCI Entertainment announced this past week that Mar. 10 will be the street date for the double feature DVD release of writer/director Ford Beebe’s 1946 family film classic, My Dog Shep, which is teamed with Beebe’s 1948 hit sequel, Shep Comes Home.

Danny (Lanny Rees) loses his parents in tragic a auto accident and is castoff to live with his less-than-friendly uncle (Russell Simpson).   It’s a depressing existence until he rescues an abandoned German Shepherd, Shep, but when the prospect of losing his new friend surfaces he takes to the road.   Adventures and new friendships follow … but an unusual twist for these two orphans surfaces that could change everything!

Olive Films Selects Mar. 31 As The Street Date For 14 New Blu-ray And DVD Film Releases

On Mar. 31, Olive Films will be offering 28 reasons for film fans to celebrate … that is the number of DVD and Blu-ray SKUs being released on that date.   They are an eclectic mix to be sure.

Where does one begin?   How about with the DVD and Blu-ray release of director Thom Eberhardt’s 1988 Sherlock Holmes comedy, Without a Clue, starring Ben Kingsley as Dr. Watson and Michael Caine as his bumbling, drunken assistant, Sherlock Holmes.

What great fun to see the traditional roles flipped as Watson has created a fictional Holmes by using an actor (with a bit of a drinking problem) as the master detective.  When their latest case involves the infamous Prof. Moriarty (played by Paul Freeman), it could be a bit of a sticky wicket for the British Empire.

Bob Hope teams with Lucille Ball in writer/director Melvin Frank’s 1960 comedy, The Facts of Life.   Nominated for five Oscars, with a win for Best Costume Design, Bob and Lucy find themselves married and in love … there’s just one little problem, they are not married to each other.

Also on the comedy front is director Robert Scheere’s 1980 film release of How to Beat the High Cost of Living.   Three friends, Elaine (Jane Curtain), Jane (Susan Saint James) and Louise (Jessica Lange) are struggling to make ends meet when they decide to turn to a heist of cash from a local mall’s “cash ball” promotion.   The results are disastrous!!!

There are a trio of cult film gems included in the Mar. 31 release mix … they are very different in nature, but very much off the beaten path just the same.  The three are director Charles F. Haas’ 1959 gritty crime thriller, The Beat Generation, starring Steve Cochran and Mamie Van Doren, with Ray Danton as a particularly nasty serial rapist; director Arthur Penn’s 1969 film adaptation of Arlo Guthrie’s song, Alice’s Restaurant (Penn was nominated Best Director for his work here) and director Gary Nelson’s 1986 film, Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, which gets the cult nod because of Richard Chamberlain’s co-star, Sharon Stone (yes, Sharon Stone, who reprises the role of Jesse Huston from King Solomon’s Mines … a surprise hit the previous year).

 

There are two Westerns on the calendar, Quiet Gun (1957, with Forrest Tucker, Jim Davis and Lee Van Cleef) and famed serial filmmaking legend William Witney’s 1956 Western, Stranger at My Door (with Macdonald Carey, Skip Homeier and Patricia Medina).

Rounding out the Mar. 31 release package from Olive Films are Night Game (1989, Roy Scheider and Karen Young), Shanghai Story (1954, Edmond O’Brien, Richard Jaeckel and Ruth Roman co-star), filmmaker Robert Siodmak’s little-seen 1945 film noir, The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (with George Sanders, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Ella Raines), Behind the Enemy Lines (starring Thomas Ian Griffith and Chris Mulky) and director Blake Edwards’ 1966 war comedy, What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?

MVD Entertainment Group's Devo: Hardcore Live! Heads To DVD And Blu-ray On Feb. 24

Devo, the Ohio-based rock group that was formed in 1972, struggled during the early years and was little more than some guys playing their eclectic music mix in a garage.  But, as history records, they were in the right place at the right time with the arrival of MTV and the video that begins with “Crack that whip!”

Fame, eight commercial albums, retirement, revival, retirement, revival … Devo, ironically, “evolved.”

Now skip ahead 42-years from their humble beginnings to a June evening last year at the Fox Theatre in Oakland, California and the “Hardcore Devo” concert … a 21-song tribute to their recently departed band mate, Bob Casale (heart failure in February of 2014).   

MVD Entertainment Group has tabbed Feb. 24 as the release date for Devo: Hardcore Live!   This live concert event will be available as either DVD or Blu-ray editions.

Included in the mix are “Jocko Homo,” “Uncontrollable Urge,” “Mechanical Man,” “Space Girl Blues,” and “Satisfaction.”

Also heading to the DVD market place on Feb. 24 from MVD Entertainment Group is documentary filmmaker Gary Bredow’s High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music, a look at the birth and growth of techno music on the streets and clubs of Detroit over a 20-year period beginning in the late 60s.  

Interviewed are the likes of Juan Atkins (Belleville Three), producer and recording artist Carl Craig, Richie Hawtin (aka: Plastikman), Matthew Dear, Eddie Fowlkes and many more.   Bonus features here include deleted scenes, outtakes and bonus interviews.

Lastly, Feb. 24 will see the DVD debut of Hip Hop Story: Complete … a three-part assembly (running nearly four-hours) that includes “HipHop Story: Tha Movie,” “HipHop Story 2: Dirty South” and “HipHop Story 3: Coast to Coast.”

Oscilloscope Laboratories Tabs Mar. 10 For The DVD Debut Of Director Jeff Preiss' Low Down

Oscilloscope Laboratories has tabbed Mar. 10 for the DVD debut of director Jeff Preiss’ film adaptation of Amy-Jo Albany’s memoir about her jazz pianist father, Joe Albany, “Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales from Childhood.”  

Titled for the screen as simply Low Down, John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone, The Sessions, etc.) stars as Joe Albany, while Elle Fanning takes on the role of his young, but insightful, daughter, Amy-Jo.   

The ARR is 137 days and the film’s limited arthouse run generated ticket sales of $44,500.    The film made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January of 2014 and then worked the festival circuit throughout most of 2014.   The DVD rollout by Oscilloscope gives Low Down an excellent opportunity to reach a much wider audience, especially those drawn to the jazz milieu.

A contemporary of Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus and Miles Davis, Albany recorded no less than eight albums under his own name (and contributed his talents to others) and was celebrated by his peers for his touch of genius, but his demons of drug addiction and poor choices brought him a life of despair and all too predicable sad ending.   

The film pulls back the covers on a lifestyle that is equal parts music, creativity and darkness … all seen from the POV of his daughter.   

Of note, six-time nominee for acting Oscars, Glenn Close, does a nice turn as Albany’s streetwise mother.

Bonus features here include commentary with filmmaker Jeff Preiss, who is joined by jazz saxophonist and composer Ohad Talmor and Village Voice film critic Ed Halter, plus a behind-the-scenes featurette.

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Preps The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I For A Friday Mar. 6 DVD And Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack Debut

When a successful film franchise entry takes in a whopping $332.9 million theatrically there are no rules when it comes to its release as either DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions.   Tuesdays are the normal street date for releases, but Lionsgate Home Entertainment has selected Friday, Mar. 6 instead for the home entertainment debut of director Francis Lawrence’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1.  

The ARR is 105 days.

Bonus features include an eight-part production documentary, deleted scenes and commentary from director Francis Lawrence and producer Nina Jacobson.

20th Century-Fox's Penguins Of Madagascar Left To Their Own Devices On Mar. 17

Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private are funny, very funny, and they are of course the stars of the DreamWorks Animation production of Penguins of Madagascar.   With $80.8 million in ticket sales you’d figure that 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment would be eager to sing their praises, but sadly that is not the case for the launch of DVD and Two Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions (one with and one without a 3D viewing option) on Mar. 17.  

As has become the modus operandi of 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment of late, there will be no PR support for this animated laugh-fest.

The ARR works out to 109 days.    

Bonus features include a deleted scene, a pair of music videos and six featurettes.