Writer/Director Lara Gallagher's Clementine On DVD And Blu-ray From Oscilloscope Laboratories On Oct. 20

Oscilloscope Laboratories has tabbed Oct. 20 as the release date for both DVD and Blu-ray editions of writer/director Lara Gallagher film festival-winning drama, Clementine.

Gallagher’s film opened at the Tribeca Film Festival in April of last year and then proceeded to work the festival circuit, pulling in wins in various categories, including Best Picture (Local Sightings Film Festival, BendFilm Festival, etc.), acting awards and cinematography (Andres Karu’s camera work is just stunning … a career highlighted by extensive episodic television work pays off here).  

By November, Oscilloscope, which is a company noted for spotting indie films of merit, struck a deal with Gallagher for domestic theatrical and home entertainment distribution.  

The initial plan was to release Clementine theatrically in early 2020, but that didn’t pan out (obvious reasons … no theatres, hello) … so now the film makes the move to the home entertainment market place on Oct. 20.   At least people, who were unable to catch it during its many film festival screenings, will have the opportunity to enjoy Lara Gallagher’s debut effort as a film director.   She nailed it!

Karen (played by Otmara Marrero) is a mess.  She’s just been locked out of her lover’s house, a woman we know only as “D” (Sonya Walger), and reacts by driving to Oregon (filmed in and around Florence, which is on the Pacific Coast about 30 miles west of Eugene) and breaking into D’s lake house.   She’s angry and acts out.

Here is where the film takes an interesting turn, a young woman (and we will use the word “woman” loosely … perhaps no more than a teen) by the name of Lana (Sydney Sweeney — one of the Manson girls in Once Upon a Time In … Hollywood, as Eden Spencer in The Handmaid’s Tale) happens by and the two strike up something of a friendship.   Maybe a better word is “fascination” instead of friendship …

In is an interesting juxtaposition, instead of the “older,” more experienced male showing an interest in a younger woman, it is the “experienced” woman who finds her new friend “fascinating.”   Sexual, to be sure, but more of a lyrical dance … and, if the truth be known, it is not Karen who is the better “game-player,” but the more manipulative Lana (wise beyond her years).

Into this pleasant diversion, comes Beau (Will Brittain — Kong: Skull Island, Savage Youth, Haunt), the “handyman,” who is someone who is hard to figure out.   He is employed by D to take care of the place … does he rat Karen out; report her for breaking in?  

Clementine is a sexually charge cat and mouse game.   It is hard to tell, at times, exactly who the cat and who the mouse roles are being played by, and that is the point.   And, we suspect that the tick tock of the arrival of the unseen “D” will bring the game-playing to a head … and, maybe not in a good way.

Bonus features for Clementine include commentary from filmmaker Lara Jean Gallagher, deleted scenes and outtakes.

 

 

Director Steven Elbert's Ice House On DVD From Mill Creek Entertainment On Nov. 24

Oh lord that’s cold.  It looks cold … feels cold.   And when you dig into the production of director Steven Elbert’s Ice House — making its DVD debut on Nov. 24 courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment — you learn that it is all real!  It’s damn cold; bone-chilling cold … blizzard cold!!

Grant Reed (Roger Wayne — Heart of Wilderness, Emma’s Revenge, Fences) has lived a privileged life, living off of the family’s fortune.  He’s even got a trophy bride, Courtney (Tabby Delarosby) … more on that in a moment.

His high school buddy, Wayne (Greg Berman — Ultimate Redemption), came from the “other side of the tracks” and when his high school days were finished he joined the Marines and was deployed.  

Grant was popular, Wayne a loner, but the two were friends.   We pick up this relationship now, in the depths of winter in Minnesota … Wayne has been back home from Afghanistan for a while, but now Grant has reached out to him.   An invitation to go ice-fishing. 

About this point in the movie you are thinking, what kind of invitation is that?   Sitting in a little box, with a hole poked in the ice, freezing your ass off in the dead of winter.   Well, Grant, as mentioned is rich — not of his own doing — and this “ice house” comes with all the amenities … a bar, central heating, cable TV, a kitchen; sort of a home-away-from-home!!

The balance of the film takes place in this ice-fishing “cabin” on the lake (actually filmed on Lake Mille Lacs).   It is here that we learn of Grant’s real motives.   He’s had a whole bunch of cameras installed in his home, Courtney is aware of them, and she thinks that she’s learned how to turn them off, so that her husband can’t spy on her.   That’s an illusion, he sees all!!

Ice House is a twisted psychological thriller, very much in a Hitchcockian sense, that builds and builds with tension as Grant’s rage is heaped on Wayne.   Director Steven Elbert took some bold chances shooting the violent ending of the film in a full-blown blizzard … every bit of the footage is real.

We will tell you this much, and no more.   Of Grant, Courtney and Wayne, not all will survive this fishing trip!!   Ice House on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment on Nov. 24, complete with Digital Copy … be sure to check it out!

 

 

 

Paramount Home Media Locks In Nov. 10 As The Street Date For PAW Patrol: PUP-tastic! 8-DVD Collection

Paramount Home Media will be teaming up with Nickelodeon on Nov. 10 for the release of a “PAW-tastic” eight-disc DVD gift set titled PAW Patrol: PUP-tastic! 8-DVD Collection.

Marshall and the PAW Patrol are front and center in the all-new Robo Dog Rescues, which showcases seven animated adventures not previously available on DVD in the domestic marketplace.

This collection is the perfect gift for PAW Patrol fans who might be new to the series and don’t have DVDs of their own (or missing one or two) … also included in this collection are: Sea Patrol, The Great Pirate Rescue, Ultimate Rescue, Pups Save Atlantis, Summer Rescues, Jungle Rescues and Pups Chase a Mystery!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment's HNN Presents: The Wicked Woods Heads To DVD On Nov. 17

Bayview Entertainment announced this past week that the latest addition to its popular “HNN Presents” line of domestic and international horror films — in association with Horrornews.net — will be heading to the DVD marketplace on Nov. 17.

From Chile, we have writer/director Lucio A. Rojas’ atmospheric chiller, HNN Presents: The Wicked Woods.

Lovers, Ruben (Iñigo Urrutia — El Derechazo, Invierno, Dios Me Libre) and Laura (Catherine Mazoyer — Apio Verde, Marcelo: La Mafia y La Estafa, Rojo: La Película) arrive at an idyllic cabin in a forested area of Chile.   Away from the hustle and bustle of the city … a chance for some peace and quiet; time together.

It is, however, not as it seems.   Ruben is married and has children.   He may love and care for Laura, but, well, it’s complicated.   Laura, on the other hand, no longer wants to remain at home (for reasons that will become clear).

Soon, and this is where filmmaker Lucio A. Rojas (Zombie Dawn, Trauma) toys with us, we see things moving in the woods.  The music takes on an ominous tone … the troubles between Laura and Ruben intensify, and so the music.

The images increase … are they real?  Is the man in what appears to be hunter’s gear, real?   Are the children that appear, real?   They come … they disappear.

Rojas continues to ratch-things up … the music, being a useful participant in the ever-building terror that has descended upon these otherwise peaceful and tranquil woods.

HNN Presents: The Wicked Woods is in Spanish with English subtitles.

 

 

 

Full Moon Features Says That It Will Be Dec. 15 For The Release Of Uncut DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Orgy Of The Living Dead

Full Moon Features, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed Dec. 15 as the street for both DVD and Blu-ray editions of a newly remastered presentation — uncut for the first time in the United States (from the original 35mm negative) — of director Jose Luis Merino’s Orgy of the Living Dead.

Sources can be a little sketchy, but Box Office Magazine records that International Artists, an indie film distribution company found by Jerrold T. Brandt in early 1974 — to be headquartered in Mexico City — released, on a very limited basis, The Hanging Woman (a dubbed version of La Orgía de los Muertos, which literally translates as The Orgy of the Dead) in March of 1974.  

It then appears that International Artists vanished by the end of the year, but The Hanging Woman may have been resurrected for a brief theatrical run in 1975 … we skip ahead to the glory days of VHS and Wizard Video in 1984.  

This newly minted version of Orgy of the Living Dead clocks in at an additional three minutes in running time … it will be interesting to see what was cut from the original for the English-language dubbed version.

 

 

 

Unearthed Films Tabs Dec. 15 As The Street Date For DVD And Blu-ray Editions Of Director Ryan Nicholson's Torched

Unearthed Films, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a collector’s edition of the late Ryan Nicholson’s 2004 debut as a director, Torched, ready for both DVD and Blu-ray release on Dec. 15.

Call it an experimental film, Torched, introduced this f/x and makeup whiz as a filmmaker; a director, in his own right.   He had logged nearly two decades in the technical arena before making the transition to the director’s chair.    

With Torched, Nicholson got a chance to show off his understanding of makeup and prosthetics with a straight-forward tale of revenge.   Of note, both Elisabeth Jolliffe and Sarah Bergeest, newbies to the business, have gone on to have careers of their own and worked under Nicholson’s direction here.

Deanna (Michelle Boback) is no sooner introduced to us, when she is attacked and raped.  Since her character is that of a nurse, she has the presence of mind to collective evidence.  Before she can act on getting the samples to the lab, etc., she is attacked in her apartment, but turns the tables on her attacker and makes him a prisoner.  

Here is where Torched gets particularly gruesome.   She takes a blood sample, has the sperm sample from the first encounter and delivers them both to a trusted colleague … do they match?   While she waits for the results, she comes up with daily creative ways to torture the guy she has a prisoner — and they are nasty, cringe-worthy acts that signal that there is probably no going back … Deanna has gone down a rabbit hole of revenge!

Bonus goodies include a vintage commentary from director Ryan Nicholson, two different format presentations of the film, an extended version of Torched, out takes, behind the scenes footage and a making-of featurette titled “Behind the Burn: The Making of Torched.”

 

 

 

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Preps 4K Ultra HD Edition Of Director James McTeigue's V For Vendetta For Delivery On Nov. 03

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment made it official this past week.   Nov. 3 will be the street date for a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition of director James McTeigue’s prophetic V for Vendetta.

Bonus nuggets for the 4K edition the featurette titled “V for Vendetta Unmasked,” the never-before-seen audition of Natalie Portman for the role of Evey and a video session featuring director James McTeigue (The Raven, Breaking In) and writer Lana Wachowski (The Matrix).

Included on the companion Blu-ray disc are four vintage production featurettes — “Freedom! Forever!: Making V for Vendetta,” “Designing the Near Future,” “Remember, Remember: Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot” and “England Prevails: V for Vendetta and the New Wave in Comics” — and the music video title “Cat Power Montage.”