Mill Creek Entertainment Picks Sept. 15 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Chris W. Freeman's Evil Takes Root: The Curse of the Batibat

Mill Creek Entertainment has selected Sept. 15 as the street date for the DVD debut of writer/director Chris W. Freeman’s Evil Takes Root: The Curse of the Batibat.

 

Felix Fojas (Nicholas Gonzalez — as Dr. Neil Melendez in The Good Doctor television series, plus such films as The Purge: Anarchy, Pray for Rain, Beneath Us, etc.) is something of a paranormal investigator, but it’s always been detached, impersonal … until now.   His friend, Amanda (Constance Brenneman) has gone missing after a mysterious phone call and he has been contacted by the local police to help out.

 

His investigation leads him to believe that she may have fallen victim to a Filipino/Ilocano spirit known as the Batibat.   He knows it is a myth, a folk tale, but mysterious tree markings near Amanda’s home in rural Ohio offer clues to this creature being a reality.   

 

Sarah (Stevie Lynn Jones — The Tribes of Palos Verdes, Is My Daughter Really Dead?), Amanda’s daughter, could be next and Felix sets out to save her by breaking the curse of the Batibat, a tree-dwelling malevolent spirit.  The local sheriff, Roy Garland (John Churchill — Tentacle 8, The Trouble with Romance, Cellular), is skeptical at first, but when the “paranormal” becomes all too real, he reluctantly becomes a believer … there is something definitely amiss in his quiet little hamlet.

 

Filmmaker Chris W. Freeman (Sorority Party Massacre, Mirror Image, Beast Mode) blends together a creepy horror tale with all the trappings of a police investigation, throws in some troubled home issues, the occult, witches, a mysterious priest (played by Adetokumboh M'Cormack) and even manages to make the local Amish community seem sinister.   All-in-all, Evil Takes Root: The Curse of the Batibat from Mill Creek Entertainment on Sept. 15 is a total creep-out … stay out of the woods and stay away from the Batibat!!

 

 

 

 

 

Director John Migliore's Creature From Cannibal Creek On DVD From Wild Eye Releasing On Oct. 13

Wild Eye Releasing, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed Oct. 13 as the DVD debut date for actor-turned-director John Migliore’s Creature From Cannibal Creek.

 

OK, every genre fan worth their salt knows about the “victim pool.”  These are the poor souls that end up in the haunted house, or the abandoned insane asylum, or lost in the woods (you name, you’ve seen it) and are picked off one by one by some creature, or serial killer.   A corollary to this is, usually, the fun of guessing who “the final girl” will be … it’s a tried and true formula for serving up scares.

 

Director John Migliore, who as a filmmaker, has given us Poltergeist Encounters, Exorcism of the Dead and The Friday Night Death Slot, turns this on its head as the victim pool consists of inbred, backwoods cannibals.   Who do you root for among that lot?

 

They catch and cage hikers and campers who wander into “their” forest home.  After properly being “seasoned,” these hapless souls are butchered and eaten.  However, one escapes and through some “nature magic” dies and is resurrected as a Swamp Thing-like creature that begins hunting down and killing the inbred, backwoods cannibals.   Perfect for the Halloween season!!

 

Bonus goodies include two featurettes — “Behind the Scenes” and “The Musings of Harriet” — and a promotional cartoon.

 

 

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment Targets Oct. 13 For The Next Wave Of HNN Presents Releases On DVD • Fabula And Profondo

Back in June, Bayview Entertainment announced that they were teaming up with Horrornews.net to launch a DVD line of “HNN Presents” horror films from both the domestic market as well as those from the far corners of the world.   The first two, Master Pieces and Me and The Devil, will be arriving on DVD on Sept. 1.

 

This week, Bayview and HNN are back with news about the second wave, which will be ready for genre fans to enjoy on Oct. 13.   These are: HNN Presents: Fabula and HNN Presents: Profondo … both from Italian filmmakers.

 

Writer/director Denis Frison also stars as “retired” detective Davide Marini, who arrives in a sleepy Italian village in the northern part of the county.   Nothing much happens here … it’s a like something out of a fairytale.   But, looks can be deceiving as Frison’s giallo-inspired story plays out with a classic blend of mystery and murder.

 

Indeed, Marini no sooner arrives when it becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose and the locals seem unable — or incapable — of stopping the brutal murders that have been taking place.   He begins to piece it together, and oddly, the clues point to fairytales being the basis for the killings.   It would be helpful, in his pursuit of the mystery killer, if the locals weren’t so odd … perhaps too many Fellini films!!

 

HNN Presents: Fabula is presented in Italian with English subtitles.

 

Also heading home on DVD on Oct. 13 under the “HNN Presents” promotional banner is writer/director Giuliano Giacomelli’s Profondo.

 

Leonardo (Marco Marchese — Across the River) is a photographer, a journalist, who has seen too much, done too much and his days are drawing to a close.  He has come to this Italian fishing village in search of a legendary sea creature, the “Red Devil.”   It is a creature of the sea … folklore, a myth perhaps.

 

Chain-smoking, disheveled and irritable (dying does that), Leo makes few friends in his search for the creature, which may be nothing more than a quest without resolution, especially since we learn that he doesn’t particularly like the sea.   Think in terms of a dying man looking to die on a marvelous adventure … and not in some hospital bed, surrounded by strangers.   Instead, death in search of the mythical “Red Devil” is much more appealing.

 

But as Leo investigates, maybe, just maybe, there is such a creature!!  There are the tales, the legends and even old newspapers reporting such a creature.  So, for Leo, there is only one way to find out … to the sea and the mysteries to be found just below the surface!!

 

HNN Presents: Profondo is presented in Italian with English subtitles.

 

 

 

 

Arrow Video Preps Warning From Space For Blu-ray Release On Oct. 13

Way, way back in the 1950s, Godzilla, King of the Monsters arrived from Japan and set off a cycle of “kaiju” monster movies, which included such creatures as Gamera, Rodan, Mothra and more.   English-dubbed theatrical runs took place, sometimes with American actors “cut into the action” (Raymond Burr, for example) to make the domestic market more responsive to these Japanese imports.

 

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new Hi-Def Blu-ray release planned for one of these kaiju creature features that, for whatever reason, didn’t get a domestic theatrical showcase run, but instead went the dubbed-to-TV route — released theatrically in Japan in 1956, but not seen here until 1963.

 

The film in question is director Koji Shima’s Warning From Space, which features “starfish creatures” that are able to assume human form.   Unlike, Rodan and Godzilla, these kaiju are actually trying to help mankind avoid the impending disaster of a rogue planet (Planet R) smashing into Earth. 

 

Arrow Video has targeted Oct. 13 as the street date for Warning From Space.  Included here are the Japanese (with newly translated English subtitles) version and the first-ever hi-def transfer of the American release of the film, which includes a newly-restored English-dub track.   There is also a newly-prepared commentary by Stuart Galbraith IV, author of “Monsters are Attacking Tokyo!”

 

Of note, Warner From Space was the first kaiju story to be filmed in color.

 

 

 

VCI Entertainment Restores Riders Of Death Valley For Both Blu-ray And DVD Release On Nov. 24

VCI Entertainment, given access to the Universal Pictures film vault, announced this past week that a new 2K film restoration, from the original 35mm camera negative, of the 1941 “Million Dollar” Western serial, The Riders of Death Valley, will be available as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings on Nov. 24.

The directing team of Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor, who also teamed for such classic cliffhangers as Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, The Green Hornet, Winners of the West and Don Winslow of the Navy, delivered an epic Western serial, running 15 chapters and featuring an all-star cast that includes Dick Foran (The Petrified Forest, My Little Chickadee, The Mummy’s Hand, etc.), Buck Jones (Western legend who died tragically in the Cocoanut Grove in 1942), Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams (Santa Fe Trail, Virginia City, Station West), Leo Carrillo (The Cisco Kid), Noah Beery Jr. and Jeanne Kelly (aka: Jean Brooks — The Falcon and Co-eds, The Leopard Man, The Seventh Victim, Youth Runs Wild) as the good guys.  

They are pitted against an equally impressive cast of villains, including Charles Bickford as Wolf Reade, Lon Chaney, Jr. and Roy Barcroft.  

Chuckawalla Charlie (Frank Austin) discovers the Lost Aztec gold mine, but does not live long to enjoy the riches contained therein.   His niece, Mary (Jeanne Kelly) get his map and everyone is out to take it from her.   Only “The Riders,” a vigilante group, stand in their way … 15 chapters of Wild West adventures, cliffhangers, shootouts, mine shaft terrors and brawls!!   

Join in on the action on Nov. 24 with this stunning new 2K film restoration from VCI Entertainment.

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Prepares 4K Ultra HD Edition Of 300 For Release On Oct. 6

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has selected Oct. 6 as the release date for a new 4K restoration of director Zack Synder’s 300, the stylish interpretation of King Leonidas, his 300 Spartans and the world-changing battle of Thermopylae.

 

This 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack presentation of 300 arrives with a commentary option featuring director/writer Zack Synder (Dawn of the Dead, Man of Steel, Justice League), who is joined by co-writer Kurt Johnstad (Act of Valor, Atomic Blonde) and director of photography, Larry Fong (Kong: Skull Island, Super 8, The Predator).

 

Other bonus goodies are archival from the Blu-ray release and include deleted scenes, the 12-part Webisode series and five production featurettes — “The 300: Fact or Fiction,” “Who Were the Partans? The Warriors of 300,” “Preparing for Battle: The Original Test Footage,” “The Frank Miller Tapes” and “Making of 300.”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Selects Nov. 3 For The Delivery Of The 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack Collection Of The Resident Evil Series

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced this past week that their 4K Ultra HD library will expand on Nov. 3 by a factor of six (well, technically, four).   

 

What they have planned is the release of the complete collection of the six theatrically-release Resident Evil films, which will be presented as a six 4K Ultra HD/six Blu-ray Combo Pack set.   Six films are in the collection, four new to the 4K Ultra HD format, with Resident Evil: Afterlife and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter having been released as 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack editions back in 2017.

 

Of course, they come loaded with bonus goodies, including the extended cut (and theatrical-cut) of Resident Evil: Extinction, archival featurettes (from early DVD releases?) being made available for the first time, commentary on all six feature films and some newly-prepared bonuses.