Paramount Home Entertainment Sets "Paramount Presents" Blu-ray Editions Of Mommie Dearest (June 01) And Last Train From Gun HIll (June 15)

Paramount Home Entertainment announced two new “Paramount Presents” film titles that will be released as collectible Blu-ray product offerings during the month of June.

The first of these, director Frank Perry’s 1981 film adaptation of Christina Crawford’s tell-all book, Mommie Dearest, will be heading home on June 1.  This is a new 4K restoration of the film.

Paramount purchased the film rights in 1978 and as part of the deal, Christina Crawford also got a healthy fee to help with the script (sort of a double-dip).   For something like two years, writers came and went and producer Frank Yablans (Silver Streak, The Fury, The Star Chamber, Congo, etc.) still didn’t have a script.   In the meantime, Anne Bancroft, dropped out of the production as Joan Crawford and was replaced by Faye Dunaway at the two-and-a-half-year mark.  

This move with Dunaway finally got the film underway, although it is often suggested that the sets were already built on sound stages at Paramount before Dunaway was signed. They had scouted Crawford’s real home and found it too difficult to film in, so with the magic of Hollywood, they simply rebuilt it from scratch, complete with lighting and all the other “magic” elements that studio sets provide.

The movie, the finished movie, was an absolute stinker.   Which, made it great!!  Yablans spent two years developing a script and he ended up with one of the campiest biopics in the history of Hollywood!

Dunaway was inspired, she channeled her inner-Joan Crawford to perfection and got off one of the greatest scenes in movie history.  It became part of popular culture almost overnight.

It begins with her inspecting her daughter’s walk-in wardrobe closet … a slow steamy reveal of a forbidden object … and then, “Nooooo! … (slight pause) … wire … (like Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the delivery of the word, “antici … pation”) … hanGERSssss,” and then the tirade begins, “What’s wire hangers doing in this closet when I told you … no wire hangers EVER!!”

This is followed by the beating from hell … little Christina (played by Mara Hobel) gets beaten with one of the offending wire hangers! 

Diana Scarwid plays the adult Christina, with Howard Da Silva deliveringy a solid Louis B. Mayer.

Bonus delights include two commentary options, one from Hedda Lettuce, comedian and drag queen — which is inspired considering the cult status that Mommie Dearest has achieved since its release 40 years ago — and second from filmmaker John Waters (who is one of the funniest directors in Hollywood, period).  

There is a new featurette titled “Filmmaker Focus: Biographer Justin Bozung on director Frank Perry,” and three vintage featurettes — “The Revival of Joan,” “Life with Joan” and “Joan Lives On.”

The other “Paramount Presents” film heading home as a new Blu-ray release is the 6K film restoration from the original VistaVision negative, director John Sturges’ 1959 Western, Last Train from Gun Hill.   The street date will be June 15.

Producer Hal B. Wallis knew film.  He knew what he like and he knew what was commercial.   His films were nominated Best Picture on three separate occasions — Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), Becket (1964) and The Rose Tattoo (1955) — and by the time he retired in 1975, he was certainly one of the industry’s most prolific film producers with 380 production credits … Elvis, John Wayne, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney all prospered until the watchful production eye of Hal B. Wallis.

He bought the script in 1954 and “banked” it … maybe a vehicle for Lancaster, but after Wallis had produced Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1957, with John Sturges directing, Wallis dusted off the script for Kirk Douglas … Sturges would direct and Carolyn Jones, who has just co-starred with Elvis in King Creole, would have the female lead, and Earl Holliman, who had worked well with Kirk Douglas in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was brought onboard.  Add Anthony Quinn, Brad Dexter and Brian G. Hutton and Wallis had himself an all-star cast with one of the best directors working in Hollywood at the time.

Bonus nuggets with this Western classic include the newly-prepared featurette titled “Filmmaker Focus: Leonard Maltin on Last Train from Gun Hill.”

 

 

 

MVD Entertainment Group Bestows "Rewind Collection" Status On The House On Sorority Row And Mortuary For Release On July 06

MVD Entertainment Group’s popular “MVD Rewind Collection” line of products on Blu-ray will be getting, not one, but two new members on July 6 (DVD editions will also be available on the same date).  Genre fans will be pleased with the selections!

We begin with writer/director Mark Rosman’s debut film, The House on Sorority Row, which came as complete surprise when it did boffo business theatrically and, quite rightly, over the years became one of the favorite films of the slasher genre.

All the classic elements are here.   A victim pool, and it is some victim pool.  It’s the lovely ladies of the Theta Pi sorority, all neatly assembled … they don’t have to drive to a haunted house, a spooky cabin in the woods or any other remote location.   The terror will come to them.

Included in this group of seven “sisters” is Katrine Rose, aka Katey (Kate McNeil — Monkey Shines, Sudden Death), who will be the “final girl” in the mix.   We are not giving away any secrets here … if you are a genre fan, you’ve seen this horror gem more than once.  

Other members of the victim pool are Vicki (Eileen Davidson, who parleyed her performance here into a career as a Soap Opera queen … The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, etc.) and Diane (Harley Jane Kozak — also a Soap Opera queen, Santa Barbara).  

Spoil sport Mrs. Slater (played by Lois Kelso Hunt), the house mother, says that the girls can’t have a party, which ticks Vicki off and she decides to terrorize the old lady by taking her walking stick away from her and to really rub it in, she holds a gun on her … BANG!!   Oops, just killed Mrs. Slater.

Oh, the hell with it, hide the body and party on!!   This is where Rosman’s story kicks in and takes us on a horror trip that delivers all that genre fans want in a slasher flick … bloody murder after bloody murder.   

It seems that Mrs. Slater had a deformed son stashed away in the attic and as soon as dear old mom is dead, there’s nothing to keep Eric (Carlos Serio) from killing everyone in the place …how’s that for irony.

Bonus goodies include commentary with filmmaker Mark Rosman (Evolver, A Cinderella Story, The Perfect Man) and stars Eileen Davidson and Kathryn McNeil and video sessions with Rosman, composer Richard Band, producer Igo Kantor and cast members, Harley Jane Kozak, Eileen Davidson and Kathryn McNeil.

The other new addition to the MVD’s “Rewind Collection” is writer/director Howard Avedis’ 1983 slasher tale, Mortuary, which stars Christopher George and his wife Lynda Day George, along with Mary Beth McDonough (best known as Erin from The Waltons television series) and this new guy, Bill Paxton (his first starring role after a number of small parts in films leading up to Mortuary).

In the film’s opening hook, Christie Parson’s (McDonough) father is murdered and tossed into the pool.   A seemingly random act of violence.

But things start to get creepy with Christie’s boyfriend, Greg (David Wysocki, aka: David Wallace — Humongous) and his buddy Josh, break into the warehouse belonging to the local mortician, Hank Andrews (Christopher George), to get some retribution for money that Andrews owes Josh.   They see something they are not supposed to see and Josh is soon slashed to death by a mysterious figure.  

We should note, attending the little ritual that Josh and Greg were not supposed to see, was none other than Christie’s mom, Eve (Lynda Day George) … hmmmm.

In any case, Josh’s body is missing and Christie and Greg go looking for him, but to no avail.   As the story unfolds, we soon learn that Hank’s son, Paul (Bill Paxton) is bat-shit crazy and has plans to marry Christie … a big ceremony and dead guests … not sure about the refreshments!!

Mortuary is a slick little thriller that has Bill Paxton chewing scenery and a nice jolt-of-a-twist ending.   Bonus features are limited to a video session with composer John Cacavas.

 

 

 

 

Film Chest Media Group Sets May 11 For The DVD Special Edition Release Of 50th Anniversary Edition: Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp

Great secret agents, spies and the like, such as James Bond, Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt, are not to be monkeyed-with when they are at work fighting terror, organized crime elements and sinister groups who are focused on world domination. 

In 1970 there came a new member to this elite circle of secret agents, Lancelot Link (played by Tongo, with the human voice supplied by Dayton Allen — legendary voice artist who starred as Phineas T. Bluster on The Howdy Doody Show, and later as Deputy Dawg from The Deputy Dawg Show … and many, many more theatrical cartoon characters beginning right after World War II).  Link’s work as a secret agent was for the Agency to Prevent Evil (or simply, A.P.E.) and it became the stuff of legends as documented in the series Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp. 

The good news, despite the sinister efforts of C.H.U.M.P. (aka: Criminal Headquarters for Underworld Master Plan) to keep the good works of A.P.E. from the public, arrived this past week from the Film Chest Media Group.  A limited edition of all of the Lancelot Link case files will be available as a four-disc DVD collection on May 11 titled 50^th Anniversary Edition: Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp.

Rumors abound as to the fate of Lancelot Link and the members of A.P.E., but this much we do know.   Link was a gifted musician and a world-class secret agent, who relied on his — what some would say — “natural” instincts in the never-ending battle against Baron von Butcher (voiced by Bernie Kopell — best known as Doctor Adam Bricker on The Love Boat) and his evil minions from C.H.U.M.P. 

Film Chest has assembled all 17 episodes from the series, plus a banana-boat full of bonus goodies.   There are video sessions with producer Allan Sandler and music director Bob Emenegger. plud the documentary titled I Created Lancelot Link.  Another bonus is the complete “Evolution Revolution” vignettes culled from the various episodes.  

There is also a bonus CD included, which features the 1970 album from the series.  

These music-oriented bonus features are perhaps key to the success of A.P.E. in battling C.H.U.M.P. in that they contain the secret codes that Link and the alluring Mata Hairi (played by the lovely Debbie, with the human voice provided by Joan Gerber, who was a prolific voice talent working on over 100 different animated series during her 50-year career) embedded in the various musical numbers played by The Evolution Revolution.  

Additionally, there are trading cards, complete episode synopses and more.

 

 

 

 

Mill Creek Entertainment Preps Matt Damon And Jamie Foxx Double-Feature Blu-ray Releases For Delivery On June 08

Mill Creek Entertainment doubles-up the Blu-ray action on June 8 with two separate star-powered double-features.  

Up first is the Matt Damon Double Feature, which includes director George Nolfi’s 2011 film adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story titled “Adjustment Team,” which was released theatrically as The Adjustment Bureau.

This sci-fi thriller has failed senate candidate David Norris, who has a passionate introduction to the seductive Elise (Emily Blunt) moments before his concession speech … it is a key moment.   Time passes and a random stranger by the name Harry (Anthony Mackie) is told to bump into Norris and spill coffee on him so that he misses his bus … however, Harry botches the assignment and Norris catches the bus.  

There he meets Elise again, gets her number and then arrives at work before he was supposed to … and that’s a problem!!   He finds his co-workers frozen, with strange men moving freely through the workplace … what the hell?   They are from “The Bureau,” and Norris has now seen them and the work that they do.

It seems “The Bureau” has been programming humankind for the last 500 years to maintain order.   Norris was being positioned to be an important person in the world of politics, but now he’s seen too much.   He either keeps his mouth shut or he will be re-programmed!!

Teamed with this sci-fi thriller is actor/director Robert De Niro’s look at the early years of the CIA, The Good Shepherd, with Matt Damon as a pre-World War II recruit who moves up through the ranks until present day, which is on the eve of The Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.   Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt, Joe Pesci, John Turturro and Bill Crudup are part of the all-star cast that De Niro recruited for his film.  

The other double-bill Blu-ray release on June 8 from Mill Creek Entertainment is titled the Jamie Foxx Double Feature.

Here we have writer/director Michael Mann’s 2006 updating of Miami Vice, with Foxx as Tubbs and Colin Farrell as his partner Crockett.   With Miami Vice is director Peter Berg’s terrorist tale, The Kingdom, teaming Foxx with Chris Cooper as FBI agents allowed into Saudi Arabia to investigate a bombing.

Of course, nothing is as it seems, with the host country playing a dangerous double-game.   Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman co-star as fellow agents,

In other Blu-ray release news from Mill Creek Entertainment this past week, both director Daniel Espinosa’s 2012 spy thriller, Safe House, starring Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington and writer/director Nick Cassavetes’s true-crime drama, Alpha Dog, starring Justin Timberlake, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Anton Yelchin, with Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone and Harry Dean Stanton, will be available on June 1.

 

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment Sets Three Additional Discovery Of Art DVDs For Release On June 22

One good turn deserves another.  A few weeks ago, Bayview Entertainment announced a three-strong collection of DVD releases for delivery on May 25 that are focused on the world of art masters — Discovery of Art: Kurt Schwitters, Discovery of Art: Maxfield Parrish and Discovery of Art: Michelangelo.   Perfect introductions to the works of these masters, especially for those traveling and seeing the sights, which include stops at museums and other points of artistic interest.

News arrived this past week that Bayview Entertainment will be back on June 22 with three additional “Discovery of Art” DVD releases.  

Up first, and for anyone traveling to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, the DVD release of Discovery of Art: Leonardo Da Vinci is a must!!   Da Vinci was the purest example of the Renaissance … artist, scholar, inventor and more. 

A genius, whose work is still marveled at to this day.   One foot in the Old World (born in 1452) and one foot in the post-Columbus world of discovery (Da Vinci died in 1519), he painted both the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper and more … many more treasures.   And his inventions were far, far ahead of their time.

In Paris for a visit to the Louvre?   Then you will need to visit the streets and places that were home to Toulouse-Latrec (1854-1901) … and of course Bayview’s Discovery of Art: Toulouse-Latrec is the perfect introduction to the Moulin Rouge, Montmartre and more!!

Rounding out this three-strong DVD release group on June 22 is Discovery of Art: Eugene Delacroix.   Eugene Delacroix was at the forefront of the “French Romantic” school … leading the way for the likes of Cezanne, Matisse and Renoir who followed and who built upon Delacroix’s artistic works in oil and watercolors in the first half of the 19^th Century.

 

 

 

Bleiberg Entertainment Preps Three For Both DVD And Blu-ray Release On June 22

Bleiberg Entertainment, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has three films lined up for delivery as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings on June 22.  

We start the parade with writer/director Braden Croft’s 2014 horror tale, Feed the Gods, starring Shawn Roberts (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Resident Evil: Afterlife, xXx: Return of Xander Cage) and Tyler Johnston (Rabbit, The Phantoms) as brothers, Will and Kris, who go in search of their mysterious past … and discover way more than they bargained for.

It starts off as a simple trip back to Tendale, the place where they were kids, but they didn’t live long there as they ended up with foster parents for some odd reason.  With the recent passing of their foster mom and the discovery of an old videocassette, the two brothers, along with Kris’ girlfriend, Brit (Emily Tennant — Way of the Wicked, Open 24 Hours), decide to head back “home” to discover what happened to their parents.   Simple, right?

They arrive in the creepy little hamlet where the locals are none too happy to have these “strangers” nosing around.   Is there something sinister going on here?   Is there something lurking in the woods?   So many questions … and so many missing tourists!!

Feed the Gods is a creature-feature with a twist … the twist being, the town’s people have struck a deal with what lurks in the woods.   Feed it … and it will leave them alone.   Will, Kris and Brit … are they the yummy meal?

Bonus features include a “Behind the Scenes” featurette.

Up next from Bleiberg Entertainment on June 22 is director Josh C. Waller’s 2015 thriller, Camino, starring stunt woman Zoë Bell (The Hateful Eight, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood, Django Unchained) as Avery, a photojournalist at a crossroads in her life.

Avery has been making great progress in her career.   She’s starting to get noticed, but she is unsure as to her next move, so she decides to take a trip to Colombia to photograph charity volunteers delivering much-needed medicines to remote villages.   This trip will give her time to think!

Things go pretty much as expected at first.  Lots of touching shots of hope and kindness, but one evening Avery follows “missionary” Guillermo (Nacho Vigalondo) into the jungle and sees something that she was not supposed to see.   These good fellows that she has been traveling with are narco-terrorists and now she is on the run, in the jungle … being hunted!!

Bonus features include a three-part “Behind the Scenes” featurette series — “The Shoot,” “The Fights” and “'Electro-Jungle-Western.”

Rounding out the June 22 DVD and Blu-ray release selections from Bleiberg Entertainment is director Paul Schrader’s 2005 film adaptation of Yoram Kaniuk 1968 novel, Adam Resurrected.

Adam Stein (Jeff Goldblum) survived the Holocaust … not because he was lucky, but because he was a dog.   A pet dog.  The personal pet of Commandant Klein (Willem Dafoe). 

Of course, Adam is not a real dog … the war is long-since over, but Adam is in an asylum and it is here, through a series of flashbacks that we come to learn how Adam, an entertainer before the war, came to be Klein’s personal pet in the concentration camp.  It amused Klein and it was Adam’s ticket to survival.  His wife and child were not so lucky … and now Adam searchers for his sanity.

Bonus features include commentary from filmmaker Paul Schrader, deleted scenes and a “Behind-the-Scenes” featurette.

 

 

 

 

 

Vinegar Syndrome Targets Apr. 27 As The Street Date For The Next Wave Of Film Restorations

Vinegar Syndrome announced this past week that Apr. 27 will be the next street date for newly-prepared film restorations making their way to the Blu-ray marketplace.

For genre fans it is always a matter of taste, so what leads this mix of film restorations from Vinegar Syndrome is a subjective call.   With that said, we are going to go with director Kevin Tenney’s 1989 demonic horror tale, The Cellar.  A new 2K restoration from the 35mm original camera negative and the director’s personal 35mm lab print.

It’s the desert (Tucson doubling for West Texas), which can be a sinister place (sci-fi and horror films love the desert, especially for production considerations), and here we meet Mance and Emily Cashen (played by Patrick Kitpatrick — Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Death Warrant, Eraser, Last Man Standing, etc. … and Suzanne Savoy — as Patti Whittaker in The House of Cards series, plus such films as The Upside, Dare, Room, Into the Spider's Web) who arrived in this remote locale out of necessity … a job.   

With the couple are their baby daughter, April (actually played by twin baby boys) and Mance’s son, Willy (Chris Miller — who made a career as a voice actor, Shrek, Madagascar, Monsters vs. Aliens, etc.), from a previous marriage.   The place they move into has a history, which soon comes front and center.

It seems that the house, through its basement, is connected to a series of caves wherein a creature dwells that was created for the sole purpose of dealing with the enemies of a local Comanche tribe years and years ago … an evil spirit that was cobbled together from various animals, both real and imagined.   It has now awakened … and it is hungry.

Willy discovers the “beast” early on, but no one believes him.  Soon the creature is killing people, driving poor dad nuts and it falls to Willy to rally the family in a final showdown before it is too late.

Bonus goodies for this creature-feature include commentary from director Kevin Tenney (Brain Dead, Night of the Demons, Witchboard, Endangered Species), who is joined by actors Patrick Kitpatrick and Suzanne Savoy, plus there is a newly-minted making-of documentary titled From Chicken Shit to Chicken Salad, Unearthing the Lost Cellar … and two viewing options, the original 1989 cut of the film and a never-before-seen “director’s cut.”

Also on the Apr. 27 release calendar from Vinegar Syndrome is actor-turned-director Anson Williams’ only non-TV movie and/or episodic TV series film as a director, All-American Murder from 1991, starring another future voice talent, Charlie Schlatter (G.I. Joe: Renegades, Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil and more) as Artie Logan, a professional college student. 

This is a 2K film restoration from the 35mm interpositive.

Of course, when you think of Anson Williams, you think of his years as Potsie Weber on the Happy Days series, but after it finished its ten-year run in 1984, Williams pretty much moved behind the camera.   With All-American Murder he delivers an odd genre flick … part mystery, part serial killer flick and part something else, it is hard to really button-hole this film.

Artie has been in and out of more colleges than you can shake a stick at, he likes to party and that usually gets him kicked out.   But this time, yes, this time, he is going to make a go of it at Fairfield College (OK State in Tulsa was the filming location) and get his degree, one that his father (Tim Green), a judge, has paid for many times over.  

In no time he has a fling with the dean’s wife, Erica (played by none other than Joanna Cassidy), but quickly sets his sights on the hottest cheerleader on campus, Tally (Josie Bissett — perhaps best known as Jane from Melrose Place).  For someone who is supposed to be knuckling-down with his studies, Artie sure finds the time for the extra-curricular stuff.  

The sexy Tally goes up in a ball of fire and is flung ablaze from the top of one of the campus buildings.   Enter — and this the best part of the movie — Detective P. J. Decker, played with gusto by Christopher Walken, who gets off zinger after zinger as he investigates Tally’s death … which points to, at every turn, to Artie.   He can’t catch a break … anyone who might help clear him also ends up dead!!

So, did he do it?   All-American Murder keeps you guessing … a few red herrings thrown in here and there to keep off of the scent.

Bonus features include team-commentary from podcasters, The Hysteria Continues!, plus a pair of production featurettes — “Being on a Team” and “A Valuable Experience.”

Rounding out the Apr. 27 release calendar are the latest “Peekarama” entry, Summer Camp Girls (1983 with Shauna Grant, Joanna Storm and Honey Wilder), director Donald P. Borchers’ 1990 ghostly horror tale, Grave Secrets (with Paul Le Mat, Renée Soutendijk and David Warner) and the debut of a new genre-themed series, Home Grown Horrors, Volume 1, which features three indie horror films … writer/director Jay Woelfel’s Beyond Dream's Door, filmmaker Christopher Thies’ Winterbeast and writer/director Jack Snyder’s Fatal Exam.