New DVD • Blu-ray • 4K Ultra HD Activity For The Period Ending July 22, 2022

New DVD Additions 

Acorn Media

07/19/22 — Released Balthazar: Series 4 (2 disc set)

 

BCSN (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released 2001 - BCSN Classic - High School Football: Cardinal Stritch vs. Ottawa Hills 10/5/01, 2002 - BCSN Classic - High School Football: Anthony Wayne vs. Springfield 10/11/02, 2002 - BCSN Classic - High School Football: Maumee vs. Perrysburg 10/25/02, 2002 - BCSN Classic - High School Football: St. Francis vs. Whitmer 8/30/02, 2002 - BCSN Classic - High School Football: St. John's vs. Central Catholic 9/20/02 and 2003 - BCSN Classic - High School Football: Springfield vs. Anthony Wayne 10/3/03

 

BEK Communications (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released 2022 - American Legion Baseball: Dickinson Roughriders vs Bismarck Governors, 2022 - American Legion Baseball: Mandan Chiefs vs Bismarck Governors and 2022 - Independence League Baseball: Western Nebraska Pioneers vs Badlands Big Sticks

 

Buffalo 8 (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Curse of Professor Zardonicus

 

Buffalo Rose Productions (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released All In, Available Wife and Sinners Wanted

 

CBS Home Entertainment (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Neighborhood: Season Four (3 disc set)

 

CCX Media (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Maple Grove Parade - July 14, 2022

 

CMI Education/PESI Publishing

07/19/22 — Released Trauma-Focused Therapy for Autistic Children: Using EMDR, TF-CBT and Sensorimotor Therapy with Kids and Teens on the Spectrum (2 disc set)

 

CasablancaDVDs/truth3152 (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Fury of the Congo, Jungle Jim, Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Island and Pygmy Island

 

Championship Productions

07/12/22 — Released Track & Field and Cross Country Coach's Blueprint for Building a Championship Culture

07/19/22 — Released Offensive Sets & Competitive Drills to Take Your Continuity Offense to the Next Level, Softball Pitching Excellence: Improving Work Capacity & Preventing Injuries and Softball Pitching Excellence: Innovative Coaching Strategies to Master 'Pitching in the Zone'

 

Changing Your World (MOD)

07/12/22 — Released Grace Life 2022: Session 1 - Creflo Dollar, Grace Life 2022: Session 2 - Gregory Dickow, Grace Life 2022: Session 3 - Andrea Crayton, Grace Life 2022: Session 4 - Creflo Dollar, Grace Life 2022: Session 5 - Andrea Crayton, Grace Life 2022: Session 6 - Gregory Dickow and Grace Life 2022: Session 7 - Creflo Dollar

07/19/22 — Released Sunday Service, Wednesday Morning Service and Wednesday Night Service

 

Cleopatra Entertainment

09/09/22 — Sets Mickey Gilley: Urban Cowboy Live (DVD/CD Combo Pack)

 

Christian Worship Hour (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Christian Worship Hour: Before Abraham Was, I Am - John 8:51-59

 

Distribution Solutions (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Stranger in Our Bed

 

DVDRParty (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released C'mon Let's Live a Little, Girls of Pleasure Island, Hercules of the Desert, Hot Pants Holiday, Reform School Girls, Runaway Daughters and Santa's Christmas Circus

 

EWTN

07/12/22 — Released Women of Grace: Susan Conroy - The Last Days and the End Times

07/19/22 — Released EWTN Live: Matthew Minerd, Ph.D. / When is war just?, Journey Home: David Currie - Former Fundamentalish Protestant, Women of Grace: Kate Caputo - Visio Divina: Entering into Sacred Art and World Over with Raymond Navarro

 

Elvis DVD Collector & Movie Store (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Before I Hang, Berserk!, Blood of the Vampires, Brian's Song, British Intelligence, Calling Dr. Death,  Climax, Decision Against Time, Devil Commands, Duel of the Titans, Face at the Window, Farmer's Daughter, First Born, Gaily, Gaily, Horror Island, House of Horrors, Hunchback of Notre Dame (silent-1923), Improper Channels, Invisible Ghost, It All Came True, Jungle Woman, Lady and the Monster, Mad Doctor of Market Street, Man They Could Not Hang, Max Headroom, Meet Marlon Brando, Monster of Piedras Blancas, Mummy's Curse, Mummy's Ghost, Night has Eyes, Night Monster, Pather Girl of the Congo (12-chapter serial), Plunder of the Sun, Ride to Hangman's Tree, Spider Woman Strikes Back, They Came to Rob Las Vegas, Thing from Another World, This Island Earth, Valley of the Zombies, Vampire's Ghost, West of Shanghai, Whistle at Eaton Falls and You'll Never Get Rich

 

Film Classics (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Age of Consent, Big Land, Counsellor at Law, Every Time We Say Goodbye, French Connection, Grizzly, Harper Valley P.T.A., Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Patton, Sometimes a Great Notion and Two Years Before the Mast

 

Film Detective

08/23/22 — Sets Tarzan Vault Collection: Special Edition (2 silent films: Tarzan of the Apes (1918), Adventures of Tarzan (1921); plus The New Adventures of Tarzan (12 Chapter serial) (3 disc set)

 

G-TV (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released 2022 - 2022 - Chardon Board of Education, 2022 - Chardon Township Meeting 07-20-2022 and Geauga 4H Style Review (07-19-2022)

 

HBO Home Entertainment (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Let Them All Talk and No Sudden Move

 

Hartford TV (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Concert in the Park: Bel Air Community Chorus performs at Shamrock Park in Bel Air

 

Hiawatha Broadband Communication (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Winona Municipal Band Concert (July 20)

 

I-Cine

07/19/22 — Released Chuyen Tinh Xa Nu (14 disc set) and Thoi Gian Tuoi Dep Cua Anh Va Em (17 disc set)

 

ITN Distribution

07/19/22 — Released Ex (Russian)

 

Icarus Films

09/13/22 — Sets Black Box (French)

 

Image Entertainment

07/19/22 — Released Dual (ARR of 95 days; box office: $118,254)

 

Just for the Hell of It (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Child for Tony (Czech), Journey Through Rosebud and Pigs vs the Freaks

 

Kino Lorber

07/19/22 — Released Invisible Valley, Silver Screen: Color Me Lavender and Where the Lilies Bloom

 

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

07/19/22 — Released Ancient Aliens: Season 15 (2 disc set)

 

Media Outlet (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Combat at Sea (7 disc set), Medal Of Honor: World War II: Pearl Harbor & Pacific, Queen Of Sheba: History or Legend?, Six-Day War: The 1967 Arab-Israeli War and WWII Films: The Asia-Pacific War (2 disc set)

 

Movie Buffs Forever (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Brood

 

Oldey's Classic Film Shoppe (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Anna Liisa (Finnish), Anna Christie (silent-1923), Annabelle Lee (silent-1921), Appointment with Crime, Are We Civilized?, Aren't We All? and Arizona Days

 

Orion Neighborhood Television (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released 2022 - Orion Today (7/19/22)

 

Paramount Home Entertainment

07/19/22 — Released Reno 911!: The Hunt for QAnon

 

Paramount Home Entertainment (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Curandero: Dawn of the Demon, Dust Devil, Georgia, In the Bedroom, Night Listener and There are No Saints

 

Remember When Classic Movies, Ltd. (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Ghosts of Berkeley Square

 

Rewatch Classic TV (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Ivana Trump's: For Love Alone, Kiss Me Goodbye, Paris 7000 (one episode), Shirley’s World: The Complete Series (4 disc set) and T.J. Hooker: The Complete Series (25 disc set)

 

Samuel Goldwyn Films

07/19/22 — Released Minamata (Japanese)

 

Screamtime Films (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Gore Theatre and Gore Theatre 2

 

Showtime Networks, Inc.

07/19/22 — Released Yellowjackets: Season 1 (4 disc set)

 

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Guanatos Hardcore Crew: Pawcade - Guadalajara, Mexico

 

The DVD HQ (MOD)

07/12/22 — Released Nine Lives are Not Enough and Steel Against the Sky

07/19/22 — Released Angel from Texas, Barricade, Bring on the Girls, Cross-Country Romance, Don't Tell the Wife, Dramatic School, First Lady, Fools for Scandal, Girls on Probation, Nurse's Secret, Remarkable Mr. Kipps, Rise and Shine, Three Girls About Town and Wife Takes a Flyer

 

Universal Pictures Home Ent.

07/19/22 — Released Peppa's Club

 

VIZ Media

07/19/22 — Released Castlevania: The Complete Fourth Season (2 disc set)

 

Vermont Movie Store (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Station Six-Sahara

 

Wild Eye Releasing

07/19/22 — Released Amityville In Space, Creature Cabin, Hunter X and Plague of the Dead

 

Zeus DVD (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Eyes of Annie Jones, Flirting Widow and Paddy O'Day

 

 

 

 

 

New Blu-ray Additions 

88 Films (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Martial Club (Mandarin)

 

Asuka the Disc Dog (aka: Fred the Blu-ray Dog) (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Bad Exorcist - Seasons 1-2, Bakugan: Geogan Rising, Fievel's American Tails: The Complete Serie, Lassie - Seasons 1-3 (The Miller Years) (3 disc set), New Adventures of He-Man (2 disc set), New Adventures of Lassie (2 disc set) and Wing Commander Academy

 

Bayview Entertainment

09/20/22 — Sets Anar Azimov's Six (Russian), Another City, Cavale: Girls on the Run (French), Diary of a Disgraced Soldier, Fine China, I Hear the Trees Whispering, Moonshot: The Remarkable Journey of Apollo Chamber Players, Occult Bolshevism (Japanese), Penitent, Son of Cornwall, Taskforce Neighbors (Russian)

 

Brink Vision

07/19/22 — Released Hoot Owl

 

Cohen Media Group

07/19/22 — Released Nathalie … (French)

 

Collector’s Heaven (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Kingdom Seasons 1 and 2 and Pink Floyd The Dark Side of Oz

 

Criterion Collection

10/11/22 — Sets Arsenic and Old Lace and Lost Highway

10/18/22 — Sets Cure (Japanese) and La Llorona (Spanish)

10/25/22 — Sets Eve's Bayou

 

DVDRParty (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Fatal Pulse, Foxfur and Reflections of Evil

 

ETV (MOD)

07/05/22 — Released Eagan Funfest Parade 2022

07/12/22 — Released Funfest Ambassador Coronation 2022

 

Frontier Records

07/12/22 — Released Orianthi: Live from Hollywood Bourbon Room 2022

 

FUNimation

07/19/22 — Released Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club: Season 1 (2 disc set), Moriarty the Patriot - Part 1 (2 disc set) and Quintessential Quintuplets: Season 2 (2 disc set)

 

Image Entertainment

07/19/22 — Released Dual

 

Kino Lorber

07/19/22 — Released Double Feature (2 film set: Salt & Pepper, One More Time), Double Feature (2 film set: They Call Me Mister Tibbs!, The Organization), Film Noir: The Dark Side of Cinema VII (3 film set: Street of Chance, Enter Arsène Lupin, Temptation) (3 disc set), Maria Montez and Jon Hall Collection (3 film set: White Savage, Gypsy Wildcat, Sudan), Marty: 4K Restoration, Native Son and Where the Lilies Bloom

 

Movies R U.S.A. (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Baymax - Season 1, Bear - Season 1, Boys - Season 3, Devils: Unrated, Hostel Daze - Season 1, Jerry & Marge Go Large, Knight Rider 2000, Maggie - Season 1, Princess and Terminal List - Season 1

 

Paramount Home Ent. (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Reno 911!: The Hunt for QAnon

 

Powerhouse Films

07/19/22 — Released Love on the Dole and Requiem for a Village

 

Real House Wives (MOD)

07/12/22 — Released Adam Project

 

Sentai Filmworks

07/19/22 — Released Dai Shogun (2 disc set) and Mother of the Goddess' Dormitory (2 disc set)

 

Severin Films

09/27/22 — Sets The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler (20 film set: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?, Wild Guitar, The Thrill Killers, The Maniacs are Loose, Rat Pfink a Boo Boo, The Lemon Grove Kids, Body Fever, Sinthia: The Devil's Doll, Blook Shack, The Chopper, The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher, The Las Vegas Serial Killer, One More Time, Body Fever, The Mad Love Life of a Hot Vampire, Nazi Brothel, Love Life of Hitler's Nazis, Count Al-Kum, Dr. Cock Luv, The Sexorcist’s Devil, Red Heat, Summer Fun, Reading, Pennsylvania, One More Time) (10 disc set)

 

Shout! Factory

07/19/22 — Released Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (Japanese) (Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack) and JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass (2 Blu-ray/2 DVD Combo Pack)

 

Showtime Networks, Inc. (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Good Lord Bird (2 disc set) and Yellowjackets: Season 1 (4 disc set)

 

Smart Mark Video (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Guanatos Hardcore Crew: Pawcade - Guadalajara, Mexico

 

Sony Music

05/31/22 — Released Prince and the Revolution: Live (Blu-ray/2 CD Combo Pack)

 

Sony Pictures Home Ent. (MOD)

07/19/22 — Released Only You and Wedding Planner

 

Troma

07/19/22 — Released Zombie Island Massacre

 

VIZ Media

07/19/22 — Released Castlevania: The Complete Fourth Season (2 disc set)

 

Warner Bros. Home Ent.

07/19/22 — Released DC's Legends of Tomorrow: The Complete Seventh and Final Season (3 disc set) (with Digital Copy)

 

 

 

 

New 4K Ultra HD Additions  

 

Criterion Collection

10/11/22 — Sets Lost Highway (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack)

 

Sony Pictures Home Ent.

07/19/22 — Released Men in Black: 25^th Anniversary Edition (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack) (with Digital Copy)

 

Bayview Entertainment Looks To Sept. 20 For The Blu-ray Release Of Writer/Director Martin Webster's The Penitent

Bayview Entertainment announced this past week that writer/director Martin Webster’s The Penitent and the 2009 award-winning documentary that broad him worldwide attention, Diary of a Disgrace Soldier, will be making its domestic Blu-ray debut on Sept. 20.

Back in 2009 the documentary filmmaking team of Richard Atkinson, Neil Cole and Chris Rowe, working with Martin Webster — a former Corporal with the U.K.’s 1st Battalion, Light Infantry — put together the award-winning documentary, Diary of a Disgraced Soldier.

Webster had made headlines in 2006 for the impromptu footage he shot in 2004 of British troops, who were under siege at the time in Al Amara, Iraq, beating four of their Iraqi tormentors.   It became a national scandal, Webster was arrested and vilified for his actions, but later the charges against were quietly dropped and he resigned from the army.

Needless to say, the film was super-charged as it focused on the aftermath of the events, how it haunted him, the PDSD that he suffered from his combat experiences and how he was able to turn this disaster in his life into a positive.

In addition to serving in Iraq, he also did tours of duty in Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone … 12 years in all.

This brings us to his latest film, The Penitent, which is a dramatic war tale that focuses on a British officer, Lieutenant Kelly (Steven Kelly — Eve, Grail), serving with a detachment assigned as UN peace-keeping forces in Bosnia.   On a seemingly routine patrol, in the quiet countryside, the patrol comes across a heavily armed group — up to no good (murdering civilians) — who ambush and wipe-out Kelly’s command.

He manages to survive and returns to civilian life, which means that he has been basically cut adrift.   His mental health begins to unravel … it’s not pretty.

Based on Webster’s own combat experiences and his work as a therapist during the years following his “retirement” from the military, The Penitent has been getting rave reviews from combat veterans, but Webster continues to get the cold shoulder from official sources.

The film was self-funded and Cornwall, England was magically transformed into the Bosnian countryside.

The Penitent worked the festival circuit throughout 2021, piling up wins at the New York Cinema Festival, Tokyo Film Festival, Cannes World Film Festival, Berlin International Arts Film Festival and more, many more.   Bayview has the Blu-ray lined for domestic viewing on Sept. 20, as well as Diary of a Disgrace Soldier on the same date.

 

 

 

 

Icarus Films Tabs Sept. 13 As The Domestic DVD Debut Date For Writer/Director Yann Gozlan's Black Box Suspense-Thriller

Icarus Films announced this past week that they will be teaming up with France’s Premiere film production and distribution source, Distrib Films, for the domestic DVD rollout of writer/director Yann Gozlan’s hi-tech mystery thriller, Black Box.   The street date will be Sept. 13.

Because of the potential controversary related to the subject of Black Box, it was “previewed” far from home at Australia’s multi-venue French Film Festival (sort of a traveling roadshow … from city to city over a one-month period) beginning in March of last year.   The reviews were solid … Gozlan had a genuine hit on his hands.

The film then played a couple of film festivals during the summer of last year before finally opening up theatrically in France (and selected French-speaking markets) in September.   A couple of arthouse venues in New York (Apr. 29) and Los Angeles (May 6) have been the only domestic exposure, so it arrives from Icarus Films on DVD in September virtually unseen.

So how good is Gozlan’s Black Box?   First off, it was nominated for five César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscar, including Best Actor for the film’s star, Pierre Niney (his fifth such nomination — previously for Ozon’s Frantz, and as the title character in filmmaker Jalil Lespert’s Yves Saint Laurent — he won the César Award for Best Actor — plus Best Supporting Actor nods in Just Like Brothers and 18 Years Old and Rising) and Best Screenplay for Gozlan (with Nicolas Bouvet-Levrard and Jérémie Guez).

Secondly, as the reviews poured in, De Palma’s Blow Out, Coppola’s The Conversation and Antonioni’s Blow-Up were cited as touchstone comparisons over and over again.   Black Box is that good, that’s pretty good company to be compared to … and needless-to-say, it was a theatrical hit in Europe last year.

So, what’s the controversary?   Why the comparisons?   The film begins with the crash of airliner into the side of a mountain in the Alps carrying something like 300 passengers.   The BEA (Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis) springs into action and audio engineer, Mathieu Vasseur (Niney) begins examining the audio from the plane’s two “black boxes” (CDR/Cockpit Data Recorder and FDR/Flight Data Recorder) and finds some initial and very tantalizing evidence that the crash was an act of terrorism.  

Case closed, right?   No so fast, the more Vasseur analyses the data, the more he begins to suspect that there is more going on than “meets the ear” with this crash.   Without giving too much away (see Blow Out, see The Conversation, see Blow-Up), our reluctant hero may have stumbled upon an even more sinister explanation for the crash.   

As he goes down this rabbit hole, more and more pressure is applied, including to his marriage to Noémie (Lou de Laâge — Breathe, Jappeloup, The Innocents), who is with the airline industry.   At what point does the quiet pressure to back-off become more overt … and life-threatening?

Black Box on DVD this coming Sept. 13 from Icarus Films is presented in French, with English subtitles.

 

 

 

The Tarzan Vault Collection: Special Edition On Blu-ray And DVD From The Film Detective On Aug. 23

The Film Detective has tabbed Aug. 23 as the street date for double-disc Blu-ray and three-disc DVD editions of The Tarzan Vault Collection: Special Edition.

It was just a story, a serialized version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Tarzan of the Apes,” that was published in All-Story Weekly in October of 1912.   It would spawn a century’s worth of books, films, radio and television productions.

By 1917 the first rights to Burroughs’ first Tarzan novel had been acquired by the National Film Corp. of American and Elmo Lincoln, who had small uncredited roles in some of D.W. Griffith’s films (The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance) and was the Genie in the 1917 version of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, landed the role of the screen’s first Tarzan. 

Filming took place in and around Los Angeles (various support studios), with jungle sequences filmed in Louisiana and some additional “atmosphere” footage shot in Brazil.   The film, Tarzan of the Apes, opened in late January of 1918 and it is the first of three early Tarzan films included in this collection.

No less than the Queen of England has dispatched the Lord and Lady Greystoke, played by True Broadman (he would die the same year the film was released from the Spanish Flu — some his films before his untimely death were The Pitfall, Stingaree, Molly Go Get 'Em) and Kathleen Kirkham (The Foolish Matrons, Pilgrims of the Night, The Isle of Retribution), to South Africa as her representatives, but the ship that is carrying them has had a mutiny on board and the two are abandoned to fend for themselves in the jungle.

The early part of the film has the two constructing a shelter, making the best of it and Lady Greystroke giving birth to Tarzan.   She dies when he is about a year old and Lord Greystroke is later killed by marauding apes … the infant Tarzan is adopted by an ape who has recently lost her offspring.   

As years pass, a playboy nephew (played by Colin Kenny) takes over the Greystroke financial empire and blows up an arranged marriage with Jane Porter (Enid Markey — after an early career in silent films, she left for Broadway throughout the 1920s and 30s, returning to film and TV work after World War II) to diddle with a promiscuous barmaid (Bessie Toner).   About the same time, one of the sailors from the mutiny returns to England and reports that the Lord and Lady Greystroke did not die and had a son, who is the rightful heir to the family fortune.

Jane decides to go in hunt of the missing heir … she has many adventures, is rescued by Tarzan and falls in love!!

Elmo Lincoln stars once again as Tarzan in the 1921 film releases of Adventures of Tarzan, with the role of Jane taken over by Louise Lorraine (Up in the Air with Mary, McGuire of the Mounted, The Great Circus Mystery).  

And, the third entry in this collection from The Film Detective is the 1935 12-chapter serial, The New Adventures of Tarzan, starring Herman Brix (aka: Bruce Bennett — as Bert Pierce in Mildred Pierce, plus such films as Dark Passage, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, The Great Missouri Raid, The Alligator People) as Tarzan, who has “new” adventures in the jungles of Guatemala as rival groups search for the treasure known as the “Green Goddess.”

As to bonus features, Tarzan of the Apes, Adventures of Tarzan and The New Adventures of Tarzan include commentary by film historian Ed Hulse, plus there are three featurettes — “Law of the Jungle: The Cinematic Adventures of Herman Brix,” “Drawn to the Jungle: The Early History of Tarzan in Comics,” and “Swinging Into Action: The Early Adventures of Tarzan on Film.”

 

 

 

 

Severin Films Picks Sept. 27 For The Rollout Of The Incredibly Strange Films Of Ray Dennis Steckler Blu-ray Collection

Severin Films, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a mind-blowing ten-disc/twenty-film Blu-ray collection lined up for delivery on Sept. 27.

Titled The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler … and that is all you need to know as a genre fan.   Sept. 27, twenty films from the collective mind of Clash Flagg, Sven Christian, Raymond Steckler and more — he used lots of pseudonyms or nom de plumes (perhaps to keep creditors at bay; perhaps to give the illusion of a bigger production; perhaps for deniability) — this is just something you mark on your calendar and wait for.   The wait will be worth it!!

All films in this “unique” collection are either 4K or 2K restorations from the best 35mm and 16mm source material available.

Legend has it, after Cold War service in Korea, Steckler, using the limited skills he acquired in the Army as a photographer, decided to make movies in Hollywood (why not) and soon found work at Universal, but was quickly fired for almost killing Alfred Hitchcock in an on-set accident.  

That may have been a fortuitous accident — a lucky turn of events — as he struck up a relationship with Arch Hall at fly-by-night Fairway Pictures and quickly got an education in how films could be made “independently” (think: micro-budget).   After working on Hall’s 1962 classic, Eegah, starring future James Bond heavy, Richard “Jaws” Kiel, in the title role, Steckler was ready to try his hand at making a film.

His first film, included in this collection, was Wild Guitar, which basically starred the same cast as Eegah, sans Richard Kiel.   As producer and director, Steckler quickly learned about finance and the “bicycling” prints from one market to the next.  

Arch Hall, Jr. stars as Bud Eagle, who is equally adept at playing the guitar and riding motorcycles, who sees himself as the next Elvis.   Broke, he meets Vicky (Nancy Jean Czarnecki, aka: Nancy Czar — Winter A-Go-Go, The Wild Scene), who introduces him to an agent who is desperate to fill-out a TV talent show.  Bud is a hit, Bud is cheated … Vicky rescues him, the end.

That could have been the end of Steckler’s career, but undaunted, he hit upon the idea of parroting Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which had gone into production in England and was the buzz of Hollywood.   Ah-ha, how about something like, oh say, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?   Columbia Pictures even went so far as to threaten legal action … all publicity is good publicity!!

Filmed in the Los Angeles area, it was yet another “bicycled print” release, but this time Steckler made money and even got good reviews, not only for the film, but for the soundtrack!!

After this, he was off to the races.   Severin Films has them all … 18 more cinematic treasures.   Jot them down (or not), just remember Sept. 27, that’s when your Blu-ray treasure chest will be available.

Here we go … The Thrill Killers (1965), Rat Pfink A Boo Boo (1965), The Lemon Grove Kids (1967, 1969), Body Fever (1969), Sinthia: The Devil’s Doll (1969), Blood Shack (1971), with the alternate cut titled The Chopper, The Hollywood Strangler Meets The Skid Row Slasher (1980), The Las Vegas Serial Killer (1987), The Mad Love Life of a Hot Vampire (1971), Nazi Brothel (1970), Love Life of Hitler’s Nazis, Count Al-Kum (1971), Dr. Cock Luv, The Sexorcist’s Devil (1974), Red Heat (1976), Summer Fun (1997), Reading, Pennsylvania (2006) and One More Time (2008).

Twenty feature films are not enough … you need extras!!   Severin Films has The Incredibly Strange Films of Ray Dennis Steckler packed with extras.   Commentaries, featurettes and more … you will be well into 2023 enjoying this Blu-ray collection!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cleopatra Entertainment Preps DVD/CD Combo Pack Of Mickey Gilley: Urban Cowboy Live For Release On Sept. 09

On May 7, the iconic Mickey Gilley passed away at age 86.   Recording artist and music legend, who was comfortable with Country, Rock ‘n’ Roll and Pop music, was perhaps best remembered for Urban Cowboy, but that would be rather superficial since he delivered over 40 Billboard Chart songs … and was, by any standard, Rock ‘n’ Roll Royalty as well, being the first-cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis!

To celebrate his life of music, Cleopatra Entertainment, with sales and distribution support by MVD Entertainment Group, has selected Sept. 9 (Friday) as the release date for a DVD/CD Combo Pack presentation of Mickey Gilley: Urban Cowboy Live.

Filmed live at the Mickey Gilley Theatre in Branson, Missouri, this concert features one hit after another.   Included in the mix are “True Love Ways,” “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time,” “You Don’t Know Me” and a salute to his cousin with “Great Balls of Fire” … and what would a night celebrating Urban Cowboy be without the likes of “Here Comes That Hurt Again” and “Stand by Me,” plus renditions of “Cherokee Fiddle,” and “Lookin’ for Love.”

The DVD release of Mickey Gilley: Urban Cowboy Live from Cleopatra Entertainment on Sept. 9 includes a CD edition of the concert as a bonus.

 

 

 

 

Criterion Collection's New 4K Restoration Of Arsenic And Old Lace Arrives On Blu-ray On Oct. 11

Last week, the Criterion Collection was out with the stunning announcement that director George A. Romero’s 1968 horror treasure, Night of the Living Dead, would be available for fans to enjoy as a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack on Oct. 4.

This week the news is equally as exciting as director Frank Capra’s 1944 film release of Arsenic and Old Lace will be getting a 4K digital makeover and will be sent home on Oct. 11 as both DVD and Blu-ray product-offerings.

The theatrical release was an odd affair.  Warner Bros. won the bidding war for the rights to Joseph Kesselring’s Broadway stage play in early 1941 and it went into production later the same year, but a curious clause was written into the rights agreement that said that the film could not open theatrically as long as its Broadway run continued.   No one could have guessed that it would continue for over 1,400 performances … hence the theatrical date in Sept. of 1944.  

When the film wrapped in December of 1941, Frank Capra joined the Army Signal Corps. and spent the war years making films for the government … perhaps it was best that the film was held back (in hindsight).

Bonus features include commentary from author Charles Dennis (“There’s a Body in the Window Seat!: The History of Arsenic and Old Lace”) and the 1952 radio adaptation with Boris Karloff.

In other October release news from Criterion, a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition of director David Lynch’s Lost Highway will also street on Oct. 11, Kurosawa’s Cure arrives on Oct. 18, as does director Jayro Bustamante’s La Llorona, and the month wraps on Oct. 25 with a double-disc Blu-ray presentation of a restored edition of Kasi Lemmons’ 1997 film release of Eve’s Bayou.