MVD Entertainment Group Bestows "Rewind Collection" Status On Writer/Director William Webb's Dirty Laundry • Street Date Is Oct. 05

MVD Entertainment Group has a new addition to its popular “Rewind Collection” series heading home on Oct. 5.  

This would be the Blu-ray debut of writer/director William Webb’s ultra-rare 1986 caper comedy, Dirty Laundry, starring veteran soap opera and television series star Leigh McCloskey (in one of his occasional film roles … Santa Barbara, Dallas, General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, etc.) and Jeanne O’Brien in her film debut, plus recording legends Sonny Bono and Frankie Valli as Los Angeles mobsters.

It’s a comedy of errors in the City of Angels as a routine trip to the Laundromat by Jay (McCloskey) goes wildly off the rails when a drug deal involving halfwits and old ladies goes south.   Jay was just trying to get his clothes clean, but during the mayhem he ends taking his dirty laundry back home — for another try later on — only to discover that he’s now holding a bag with a million dollars in cash.

Naturally, mobster “Macho” Marty Benedictine (Frankie Valli) wants his money back and tasks the inept Vito (Nicholas Worth — Swamp Thing, High School High, Doin’ Time, etc.) to track the kid from the laundry down.   The FBI is also on the case … it’s going to get wild on streets of Los Angeles.

Dirty Laundry is fun for the vintage tour of Los Angeles and the “faces” that pop up in small parts … get your check list ready to spot the likes of Olympians Greg Louganis and Carl Lewis, plus Jill Terashita (Night of the Demons, Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland), John Moschitta Jr. (the voice of Blurr in The Transformers movies), roller derby star Dee “Queen Kong” Booher, Matt Sorum (Guns and Roses), Terry Nails from Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears” album, and both Johnny Frank and Danny Star from the rock group Kingdom Come.

Bonus features include commentary from “Hack the Movies” members Tony Piluso, Newt Wallen and Crystal Quin, plus two newly-minted half-hour video sessions with actors Leigh McCloskey and Robbie Rist.

 

 

 

Bayview Entertainment Targets Sept. 14 For A Sarah Starr Get-Fit DVD Promotion

Bayview Entertainment will be release two fitness DVDs on Sept. 14 from Sarah Starr, a certified Yoga instructor (with over two decades of experience) and host of the internationally-syndicated television program, “Happy Yoga.”  

Up first is the DVD titled Beginner Gentle Seated Chair Yoga, which is divided into two sections featuring low-impact/gentle movements for all of the major muscles … shoulder and neck stretches, hip openers, hamstring stretches and more.   Starr’s program is designed to free the muscles and increase circulation to the internal organs, plus there are tips on meditation.

Starr’s philosophy is to take your time, do only what you can right now and build upon your accomplishments.

The second fitness DVD from Bayview Entertainment on Sept. 14 featuring Sarah Starr is titled Gentle Yoga for Beginners.  

Here too Starr guides the viewer through basic movements divided into two sessions … this program is for those who have advanced from the use of a chair, which is recommended for those just getting started.   She works on more fluid movements while you are standing and sitting.

 

 

 

 

 

Severin Films Restores Uncut Version Of Writer/Director John A. Russo's Midnight For Blu-ray And DVD Release On Sept. 28

Back in May of 1982, the 28^th to be precise, director Jean-Claude Lord’s Visiting Hours and writer/director John Russo’s Midnight opened theatrically.   Both are genre films, catering to similar audiences … in the end, Visiting Hours did more business, it was a studio release, while Midnight found a home at Independent-International Pictures.

That’s unfortunate that both films opened theatrically at the same time, and while there is nothing wrong with Visiting Hours — a nice little horror entry — history records that Midnight is actually the more significant of the two.  

The reason is the filmmaker himself, John A. Russo, who teamed with iconic horror filmmaker, George A. Romero back in 1968 for Night of the Living Dead, which was the beginning of a long and fruitful career as an author, screenwriter, producer and director.

Word arrived this past week from Severin Films, with sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, that a new 4K film restoration — from the thought-to-be-lost uncut version of Midnight — will be making its way to the home entertainment marketplace as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings on Sept. 28.

Midnight owes much to Wes Craven’s Last House on the Left, as the fate of Nancy (Melanie Verlin — Monkey Shines), our heroine, goes from grim, to horrible, to down-right insane.   If you could have people more crazed than Krug Stillo and his gang from Last House on the Left, you’ve found them here in the backwoods of Pennsylvania.  

Inbred Satan-worshipers who kill on impulse and who have just added Nancy — a teenage runaway — to their caged trio of young woman who will be sacrificed (murdered) for their blood (don’t ask).

Does she survive?   Does anyone survive?   If you haven’t seen Midnight (it has been out of print since 2005), the answer won’t be revealed until the final moments of the film!!   And for that, you will have to wait until Sept. 28.

As to bonus goodies for this very grim horror tale, there are four extensive video sessions … the first with filmmaker John A. Russo (Midnight 2, Santa Claws), and the other three featuring producer Samuel M. Sherman, actor John Amplas, who plays Abraham, but is perhaps best known to genre fans as Martin from George A. Romero’s 1977 horror film, Martin … and the last video session is with SFX artist Tom Savini, who provided the special effects here.

 

 

 

Hardball And Breakdown Head To Blu-ray On Sept. 21 From Paramount Home Entertainment

Paramount Home Entertainment announced this past week that there will be a 20^th Anniversary celebration on Sept. 21 with the Blu-ray debut of director Brian Robbins’ 2001 film adaptation of Daniel Coyle’s book, “Hardball: A Season in the Projects,” which was shortened for its theatrical release to just Hardball.

Keanu Reeves, between Matrix movies, did The Replacements, The Watcher, Sweet November and this gritty fish-out-of-water story about an addicted gambler who must coach a group of unruly and undisciplined kids to find redemption.

Bonus features include commentary from director Brian Robbins (Varsity Blues, The Perfect Score, Meet Dave, Norbit) and screenwriter John Gatins (Oscar-nominated for his Flight screenplay, plus scripts for such films as Summer Catch, Coach Carter and Dreamer), deleted scenes, the Lil’ Bow Wow, Lil’ Wayne, Lil’ Zane and Sammie. music video titled “Hardball” and “The Making of Hardball” featurette.

Also heading home on Sept. 21 is the latest addition to the “Paramount Presents” Blu-ray library, director Jonathan Mostow’s Breakdown, starring Kurt Russell, Kathleen Quinlan and J.T. Walsh.

Bonus features for this edge-of-your-seat thriller include newly-prepared commentary with Kurt Russell and filmmaker Jonathan Mostow, an alternate opening (with optional commentary from Mostow) and a trio of featurettes — “Filmmaker Focus: Director Jonathan Mostow on Breakdown,” “Victory is Hers” and “A Brilliant Partnership.”

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Readies Director Jon M. Chu's In The Heights For Release On Aug. 31

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be bringing director Jon M. Chu’s film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony-winning Broadway Musical, In the Heights, to the home entertainment packaged media marketplace on Aug. 31 as a three-SKU product offering.

The ARR comes in at 81 days and domestic box office receipts from the film’s mid-June theatrical launch currently stand at $28.3 million. 

In a normal summer-season theatrical run, In the Heights would have had a significantly higher box office number, but the studio’s continuing use of day/date HBO Max rollouts cut into that potential.   With a reported production budget of $55 million, it becomes a “new math” problem as to whether this strategy makes sense in a post-Covid marketplace.   Time will tell.

Planned for release are a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack, plus stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions.

Anthony Ramos (Honest Thief, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, A Star is Born) and Melissa Barrera (popular star of several Mexican telenovelas) star in this joyous musical celebration of the life and culture of New York City’s Washington Heights.

Bonus features, which are limited to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD SKUs, include a sing-along mode and seven music videos.

 

The Criterion Collection Announces Its October Of 2021 Slate Of Films Restorations Heading To Blu-ray And DVD

The Criterion Collection has an exciting October lineup of new film restorations that will be making their way to movie buffs as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings during the course of the month.

There’s no better place to start than with director Raoul Walsh’s double-bill on Blu-ray (two disc set) and DVD (a three-disc configuration), which streets on Oct. 12.   Topping the action is a new 4K film restoration of Walsh’s January of 1941 film adaptation of W. R. Burnett's novel, High Sierra, starring Ida Lupino and “B-movie” gangster veteran Humphrey Bogart as Roy "Mad Dog" Earle … after this, Bogart was a star with top-billing (it only took ten years and 38 previous film roles to get there).  

But even getting the role was a struggle for him to land as George Raft, Paul Muni, James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson were all considered for the part, but without Bogart here, it might have been just another crime drama.

Teamed with High Sierra is Walsh’s 1949 remake as a Western, Colorado Territory, starring Joel McCrea as Wes McQueen (the Bogart equivalent), Virginia Mayo as Colorado Carson (Ida Lupino), with Dorothy Malone as Julie Ann Winslow, which was the Velma character portrayed by Joan Leslie in High Sierra.

Bonus features include documentary filmmaker Marilyn Ann Moss’ 2014 feature-length documentary titled The True Adventures of Raoul Walsh, the April of 1944 Screen Guild Theatre radio broadcast of High Sierra (with Ida Lupino), The South Bank Show episode titled “Bogart: Here's Looking at You, Kid” and more.

Another terrific release — especially for genre fans — from the Criterion Collection during the month of October takes place on Oct. 19 with the arrival of Blu-ray and double-disc DVD editions of director Jack Arnold’s 1957 atomic-age sci-fi thriller, The Incredible Shrinking Man.

This is a new 4K film restoration. 

Tarantulas have a relatively short life-span, but “Tamara” got two starring credits in her short film career.   Here, as the normal-sized menace of the once-normal guy by the name of Robert Scott Carey (Grant Williams — The Monolith Monsters, The Leech Woman), and as the featured creature in another Jack Arnold classic, the Thanksgiving of 1955 theatrical release of the sci-fi treasure, Tarantula.

In The Incredible Shrinking Man, we have Carey out on a routine boating trip one afternoon with his wife Louise (Randy Short — I Was a Male War Bride, Man from God's Country).  While she is below deck, their boat passes through a strange mist and he ends up being covered with a powder-like substance … he thinks nothing of it.

Time passes and he begins to notice that his clothes are not fitting right.   He is literally shrinking, getting smaller each day.   Doctors deduce that his exposure on the boat was somehow related to radiation and begin work on an experimental serum to stop the process, but sadly, cannot reverse it.   

The effect is only halted for a while and then Carey begins getting smaller once again.   He is attacked by the family cat and Louise assumes the worst.   Alone in the basement, the third act features one of the great man-versus-creature battles of all time as the inch-sized Carey is pitted against a deadly spider in a fight for his life!

Bonus goodies include a newly-prepared commentary teaming film historian Tom Weaver with horror-music expert David Schecter (the pair teamed for the book titled “Universal Terrors 1951-1955: Eight Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Films”), documentary filmmaker Daniel Griffith’s 2013 documentary titled Auteur on the Campus: Jack Arnold at Universal, a vintage interview with Jack Arnold (circa 1983), the 8MM home-cinema version of the film … and more.

Rounding-out the October selections from the Criterion Collection are: Japanese filmmaker Kaneto Shindô’s 1964 film, Onibaba (Oct. 5), writer/director      Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher (Oct. 19), and the month concludes with the Oct. 26 releases of director Satyajit Ray’s 1960 film, Devi and the writing and directing team of Benny and Josh Safdie’s Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler.

 

Shout! Factory Picks Sept. 28 As The Street Date For The Release Of The First Five Halloween Films As 4K Ultra Hd/Blu-ray Combo Pack Editions

Shout! Factory has tabbed Sept. 28 for the release of the first five films in the Halloween series as 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack editions.

Director John Carpenter’s Halloween, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, was released theatrically in 1978 and became one of the great horror film franchises … spawning eleven films in the series, with two more from director David Gordon Green on the way (Halloween Kills, with Jamie Lee Curtis, is slated for an Oct. 15 theatrical launch, while Halloween Ends is scheduled for an October of 2022 release).

 

The original Halloween has been given a new 4K film restoration from the original camera negative (supervised by cinematographer Dean Cundey) and comes with two commentary options — the first featuring John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis and the second with director of photography Dean Cundey, editor Tommy Lee Wallace and actor Nick Castle (Michael Myers).

Halloween II (1981), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989) all feature new 4K film restorations and come with at least two commentary options … and a boatload of bonus goodies.