Bayview Entertainment's The Dead And The Damned 2 Heads To DVD On July 12 • Joined By C.B. Harding's Complicity

Bayview Entertainment announced this past week that writer/director Rene Perez’s The Dead and the Damed 2 (aka: The Dead and the Damned and the Darkness) will be hitting the DVD marketplace on July 12.

Perez had a breakout direct-to-video hit in 2011 with The Dead and the Damned, so it only made sense that one good turn deserved another … or is one good plague needs another (actually, it is just the same plague, only more of it).

Our hero of the piece, Lt. Colonel Sawyer (Robert Tweten in his film debut), has been in both Africa and Europe for some time now battling the plague, well, actually the victims of the plague who mutate in deformed creatures and the like.   Back home, it is a vast wasteland … and his wife is dead and his daughter has gone missing.

He’s done, just one thing left to do, and that is take his wife’s ashes and scattered them in the ocean.  That task will keep him alive for the moment, but it’s clear that there is little to look forward to in this post-apocalyptic world.  The virus has won. 

But a quest is a quest and so Sawyer begins his mission, which turns out to be one mutant encounter after another … there is no end to violence, horror and misery!!

Also heading to DVD on July 12 is writer/director C.B. Harding’s twisted thriller, Complicity.

Tick tock.  Tick tock.  It’s Friday and the school day is about to end.  The clock moves slowly, ever so slow, which makes the anticipation of the big party that is planned all the more exciting.   Shannon Erdman’s (Shoshana Bush — Hoax, #1 Serial Killer) parents are going to be out of town and she plans to take full advantage of that!!   THE party!!

Thing are great, it’s a hit … and then the big moment, the moment that will change everything happens.   Kimberly (Heather Hemmens … as Maria DeLuca in the Roswell, New Mexico television series) claims that she has been raped and she points to the wimp, the quiet shy guy, Dylan (Josh Janowicz), as the guilty party.

The party abruptly ends, but Kim and Shannon and few other remain behind the accused.  It escalates and Dylan, rather than having a date with the cops, is accidently killed!!

About this point you are thinking teen angst movie.   They will all be back in school on Monday with something to talk about.   But you would be wrong … Harding takes the story from Dylan’s untimely demise and twists into a twisted night of everyone for themselves!!

 

 

 

Severin Films Reades A 4K Ultra HD Presentation Of Dennis Hopper's Out Of The Blue For Release On July 26

Dennis Hopper’s “accidental” movie, Out of the Blue, will be getting a new 4K film restoration from Severin Films — sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group — and will be heading home on July 26.

Restored from the original camera negative, Out of the Blue will be available as a three-SKU array of home entertainment packaged media product offerings … a 4K Ultra HD/2 Blu-ray Combo Pack, a double-disc Blu-ray buying option and a movie-only DVD edition.

The history of the film is fascinating.   Hopper was cast for the lead in this Canadian indie production, with Leonard Yakir producing, writing and directing the film.   Dennis Hopper, being Dennis Hopper, saw the potential in the film and took over the directing chores two weeks into the shoot and starting rewriting Yakir’s script.

The film wrapped and then surfaced at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 1980.   There were problems with the film, which we will steer clear of here, but for those who have their Anchor Bay DVD from 1999 (when Anchor Bay was doing cutting-edge stuff), you know what some of those issues are — drugs, child abuse, violence, its nihilistic ending — which limited its theatrical exposure (which was checkered at best).

Severin Films is really giving Out of the Blue the focus that it deserves with this stunning 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack release at the end of July.   You could also call it a tribute to the film’s central focus, Linda Manz, who plays Hopper’s daughter.  She has romanticized her father in his absence (a six-year prison jolt for the horrific accident that plays out during film), while trying to cope (survive) with her mother’s drug-addled behavior (Sharon Farrell — Night of the Comet, It’s Alive).   Her coping “choices” are the film’s central focus … interesting to be sure, but ultimately very destructive.

Let’s get to the bonus features, which are extensive.   First off, Severin Films is delivering no less than three commentary options.   The first is the archived Dennis Hopper, executive producer Paul Lewis and film distributor John Alan Simon’s commentary, the second is with film scholar Kate Rennenbohm and the third features Diabolique Magazine’s Kat Ellinger.

There is a vintage video session with Hopper (circa 1984), a half-dozen featurettes — “Gone but Not Forgotten,” “Subverting Normality: Linda Manz Comes from Out of the Blue,” “Terminal City Blues,” “Remembering Out of the Blue,” “Straight to Hell” and “Dealing with Demons” — the short film, Mainstreet Soldier and two Q&A sessions — 40^th Anniversary 4K Restoration Premiere featuring John Alan Simon, Elizabeth Karr, Julian Schnabel and Natasha Lyonne and the AFI Q&A with 4K Restoration Producers John Alan Simon and Elizabeth Karr.

 

 

 

Mill Creek Entertainment Tabs July 12 For The Blu-ray Debut Of Director John Hamburg's Safe Men

Mill Creek Entertainment has selected July 12 as the Blu-ray debut date for writer/director John Hamburg’s 1998 caper-comedy, Safe Men, starring Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn and relative newcomer (back then) … Paul Giamatti.

Released theatrically in just a handful of theatres in August of 1998, it got a VHS release, but was delayed on DVD until 2006 … and completely bypassed by the Blu-ray format, until now.

We first hook up with Sam (Rockwell) and Eddie (Zahn) as they are wrapping up their performance as a lounge act.   They are just awful.   Cats being swung around by their tails make for a melodious sound.  

But their career as singing talent is about to take a left turn when they are mistaken, in a dimly lit bar, for two top-of-the-line safe crackers.   Before you know it, Sam and Eddie are in the employ of a local mobster by the name of Veal Chop (Giamatti), the sort of (good) fellow that you don’t correct and don’t say no to.

Watching Giamatti on screen in 1998 in Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator and here, in Safe Men, gave us all the information we would need to know to see that he would emerge as one of the best actors this century.   How he was overlooked for an Oscar nomination for his performance in Alexander Payne’s 2004 film release of Sideways will forever remain a mystery.

Here, in this rarely seen gem from filmmaker John Hamburg (Along Came Polly … plus scripts for Zoolander, Meet the Fockers, Night School, etc.), Giamatti is a master … you go, Mr. Veal Chop!!

Also heading to Blu-ray on July 12 from Mill Creek Entertainment is director David Zucker’s 1998 comedy, BASEketball, starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Jenny McCarthy. 

 

 

 

Waiting: The Van Duren Story Heads To DVD On Aug. 05 From MVD Entertainment Group

MVD Entertainment Group will be bringing the Aussie documentary filmmaking team of Greg Carey and Wade Jackson’s very personal film, Waiting: The Van Duren Story, to the DVD marketplace on Aug. 5.

Memphis-born singer-songwriter Van Duren had his first shot in 1975 when Chris Bell bailed out of Big Star, and for a brief moment it looked like he might get the replacement gig on guitar, but then Big Star went bye-bye. 

With a taste for it, Van Duren soldiered on and with Big Star’s drummer, Jody Stephens, he began recording some of his own music and shopping it around … enter former Rolling Stones promoter Andrew Loog Oldham, who saw potential in the young musician.  

One thing led to another and by March of 1978 Van Duren had his debut album, “Are You Serious?” — released through fly-by-night label, Big Sound Records.   It was a hit … Van Duren was set, rock star!!

This is where it gets tricky.   Van Duren started work on a second album, Big Sound Records was absorbed by another label and the material from Van Duren was rejected, the second album vanished.   End of story.

Van Duren went on with various bands and did a number of collaboration albums, but never the solo stuff again.   And then in something of a Spinal Tap-twist, the lost album, “Idiot Optimism,” surfaced in Japan in 1999 and would have remained a foot note if not for its “discovery” in 2016 by the aforementioned Greg Carey and Wade Jackson (a music composer for Australian television shows), who loved what they heard and decided to get to the bottom of what really happened way back then, which set them on a two-year odyssey and the resulting film festival debut of Waiting: The Van Duren Story in November of 2018.

Not only did the pair piece together the real story, but they accomplished a whole lot more with their interviews and hard work.   The music, the story and the people involved, including Van Duren are all here … and now you can enjoy the mystery trip on DVD from MVD Entertain Group on Aug. 5.

Bonus features include video sessions with Andrew Loog Oldham (Rolling Stones), Jody Stephens (Big Star) and Terry Manning (Ardent Studios), plus behind-the-scenes footage.

 

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Tabs June 7 For A Judy Garland Blu-ray Promotion

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced its June film library selections that will be available for the first time on Blu-ray this past week.  

It is a Judy Garland trifecta kicking off on June 7 with the 1941 Busby Berkeley musical extravaganza, Ziegfeld Girl, teaming Judy Garland with James Stewart … plus an all-star cast that includes the likes of Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner and Eve Arden.

Bonus features with the Blu-ray debut of the Ziegfeld Girl include an introduction by author John Fricke (“The Wizard of Oz: The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History,” “Judy Garland: A Portrait in Art and Anecdote,” “Judy: A Legendary Film Career”), audio outtakes, an Our Gang Short (Melodies Old and New) and vintage musical short.

The second Judy Garland film, also making its Blu-ray debut on June 7, is the 1942 Oscar-winning musical, For Me and My Gal, starring Judy Garland, George Murphy and newcomer, Gene Kelly.

Bonus goodies here are toplined by commentary from John Fricke, a delete scene, a music-number outtake, two vintage short films and Screen Guild Players Radio Show broadcast from March of 1943.

Rounding out the Judy Garland Blu-ray tribute — and also streeting on June 7 — is The Clock, a World War II romantic drama from director Vincente Minnelli (who would marry Judy Garland one month after the movie opened).   Her co-star in this all-New York City story is Robert Walker.

Bonus features include the Tex Avery theatrical cartoon, Screwy Truant, a vintage short film and the 1946 Lux Radio Theater broadcast teaming Judy Garland with John Hodiak.

In other release news from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment this past week, the Tom Cruise/Emily Blunt sci-fi thriller, Edge of Tomorrow, will be available on July 5 for the first time as a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack presentation.

Bonus features include deleted scenes and five production featurettes — “Operation Downfall: Adrenaline Cut,” “Storming the Beach,” “Weapons of the Future,” “Creatures Not of this Earth” and “On the Edge with Doug Liman.”

 

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Looks To June 14 For The Home Entertainment Rollout Of Director Michael Bay's Ambulance

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has locked, loaded and is ready to launch a three-SKU barrage of home entertainment packaged media products on June 14 of director Michael Bay’s stylish remake of Danish filmmaker Laurits Munch-Petersen’s 2005 heist-gone-wrong thriller Ambulance.

Teaming Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Candyman) as brothers through adoption, with Eiza González (Godzilla vs. Kong, Alita: Battle Angel) literally along for the ride, Ambulance arrives with a swift-to-market ARR of 67 days … domestic box office receipts currently stand at $22 million.

Planned for release are Combo Pack editions for the 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) and Blu-ray (with DVD) formats, plus a stand-alone DVD buying option.

Bonus features common to all three SKU configurations are four featurettes — “Bayhem,” “Pedal to the Metal,” “Aerial Assault” and “A Tribute to First Responders.”  

Exclusive to the Combo Packs are two additional featurettes — “Finding Ambulance” and “Chase Capital of the World.”

 

The Criterion Collection Announces Its August 2022 Slate Of New Film Restorations

The Criterion Collection announced its August slate of new film restorations that will be arriving in the home entertainment packaged media marketplace over the course of the month … it is an eclectic mix.

Topping the list, and this purely subjective is actor/director Sidney Poitier’s 1972 Western, Buck and the Preacher, which will be available as a Blu-ray-only edition on Aug. 23.

Millie had been the box office cashier at Loews on the Mall in Santa Monica for as long as anyone could remember.   She started there when it was the El Miro Theatre and knew the routine and pace of a “grindhouse” operation.   

Part of that “routine” was to alert whoever was on duty at the time, which in this case was me, that a “celebrity” was at the box office and she wanted permission to pass them in as a professional courtesy.   I headed out to the box office structure in the theatre’s outer foyer … who could the mystery guest be?

A career as a financial analyst at Dun & Bradstreet had been tossed aside to learn the theatre business (exhibition) from the ground up — at first no one would hire me because I had a degree in Economics, but as chance would have it, I was in the right place at the right time.   Loews on the Mall was my second assignment and the manager, Mark Hecht, was more than willing to teach me the tricks of the trade … and experiment with intermission music and promotions and document the results as well (concession sales).

A “grindhouse” back in the day showed double-features, usually beginning at noon and running to roughly 12:30 in the morning when the union projectionists would call it a day (some, downtown, ran 24/7).   This particular week, the double-feature at this particular “grindhouse” was Buck and the Preacher and Hannie Caulder, and the celebrity that Millie had spotted was none other than Billy Jack, Tom Laughlin, who was accompanied by his wife Delores Taylor … I recognized him at once, and sure, please enjoy the show.

Thinking nothing of it, I happened to be standing outside (the street had been closed and turned into an outdoor promenade) enjoying the beautiful spring afternoon when Buck and the Preacher concluded and Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor exited the theatre.  

In one of those shocking moments that sticks with you, he walked right up to me and thanked me.   For the next 40 minutes, Tom Laughlin and I talked about the movie business, his interest specifically in Buck and the Preacher and how the film was structured.  

A “Black Western,” directed by Sidney Poitier (who was also the producer, along with Harry Belafonte, his co-star), who had taken over the direction and replaced Joseph Sargent … Laughlin was fascinated with both the process and the final product.

In 1975, Laughlin would direct and star in (with his wife, Delores Taylor, as producer) his own “Black Western,” The Master Gunfighter, with the iconic “Super Fly,” Ron O’Neal as his co-star.  

But more importantly, history would record, Laughlin’s fascination with Buck and the Preacher, not just the film, but the creative and distribution process, would lead to a settlement with Warner Bros. later in the year and the re-release of Billy Jack in May of 1973, which proved to be a blockbuster after its initial lackluster results from the summer of 1971 (blamed on haphazard marketing by the studio).

It is no accident that Criterion has a new 4K film restoration of Buck and the Preacher, which will be celebrating its 50^th Anniversary this year.   It is a landmark film in many ways.

As to bonus features, there is a newly-prepared video session with author Mia Mask (“Black Rodeo: A History of the African American Western”), a video session with Gina Belafonte (Harry Belafonte’s daughter), vintage interviews with both Poitier and Belafonte and behind-the-scenes footage.

Also, on the release calendar from the Criterion Collection during the month of August are: Josh and Benny Safdie’s 2009 Blu-ray debut of Daddy Longlegs and writer/director Ronald Bronstein’s 2007 debut film, Frownland (both on Aug. 16), French filmmaker Marcel Carné’s 1938 film, Hotel du Nord (Aug. 23) and director Jessica Beshir’s Faya Dayi (Aug. 30).