Severin Films Unpacks The Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection Beginning On Dec. 3 With The Blu-ray Double Features Of Satan's Sadists And Angels' Wild Women

In 2020 (on the second of June to be exact) Severin Films released the massive 14-disc Blu-ray set titled, Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection, which showcased thirty of his films — genre, sexploitation, action, etc. — with the hefty price tag of $549.99 (about $18.00 per film).   It sold out and can only be found on eBay these days.

For those genre fans who could not pony-up those numbers or arrived too late to purchase one of the sets, Severin will be re-introducing elements of the collection as stand-alone purchasing options.  
The first of these will resurface on Dec. 3 as the double-feature Blu-ray presentation of Adamson’s 1969 “biker” flick, Satan’s Sadists, which is teamed with his 1971 rift on the Manson Cult, Angels’ Wild Women (actually shot on location at the Spahn Movie Ranch … see Once Upon a Time in … Hollywood for comparisons).

With the rise of “biker flicks” in the late 60s (right around the time members of the Baby Boom generation were hitting their early twenties — The Wild Angels, The Born Losers, The Glory Stompers, Hells Angels on Wheels … and of course, Easy Rider, plus others) it was only a matter of time for young filmmaker Al Adamson and his distribution partner, Sam Sherman, to get around to producing one of their own. 

This would be Sherman and Adamson’s Independent International film distribution company’s debut title, Satan’s Sadists, which starred Russ Tamblyn (Peyton Place, West Side Story, The Haunting, etc.) as Anchor, the psychopathic serial killer leader of the motorcycle gang called “The Satans.”

An extended opening sequence at a remote desert café sets the tone for what is to follow as Anchor (with his cohorts) comes unglued and murders three of the patrons while two others — Johnny (played by stuntman/actor Gary Kent, who was a close friend of Adamson and likely the last person to have spoken with him before Adamson’s brutal murder in 1995 — The Thrill Killers, Ride in the Whirlwind, Dracula vs. Frankenstein, Schoolgirls in Chains, etc.) and Tracy (Jackie Taylor, aka: Jacquline Cole — The Female Bunch, Satan’s Cheerleaders, Angels’ Brigade) manage to escape via a dune buggy into the desert … The Satans in pursuit.

He murders three female campers and sees his entire gang die — either through accidents or at the hands of Johnny.   Anchor and Johnny face off in a “duel” to the death at the end of the film!!

Some, incorrectly, label Satan’s Sadists as a story pulled from the headlines of the Tate-LaBianca murders at the direction of Charles Manson, but Adamson’s film was finished in the spring of 1969, several months before the August rampage.

Independent International released the film on a regional basis (limited prints) as early as June of 1969.   When Easy Rider became a surprise hit, the film found a second life and additional theatrical dates were found … finally arriving in Los Angeles in the spring of 1970.

There are press and trade reports that the ultimate success of Satan’s Sadists allowed Independent International to produce an additional 18 theatrical releases.

Bonus features include an archival commentary with producer/distributor Sam Sherman and outtakes.

The companion feature, Angels’ Wild Women, is a Manson-like biker tale … and deliberately so on Adamson’s part, who had success rebranding Satan’s Sadists after the Tate-LaBianca murders (hence the confusion over the years as to its original production).

Bonus features include an archival commentary with producer/distributor Sam Sherman.

Film Masters Restores Director Bernard Kowalski's Night Of The Blood Beast And Attack Of The Leeches For Blu-ray And DVD Distribution On Nov. 12

Film Masters has done it again and genre fans are loving it!

On Nov. 12, the next newly-restored classic from the creative mind of the late Roger Corman will arrive as both DVD and Blu-ray editions … and yes, it will be a double-feature!!

 So what is the genre delight this time around?   How about a new 4K film restoration (from a rare surviving complete 35mm print) of director Bernard Kowalski’s 1958 Christmas-season sci-fi/horror entry, Night of the Blood Beast.   Let that sink in … a new 4K film restoration from a complete 35mm print.   Is this a winner?   In a word, YES!!!

It was 1958 and Roger Corman could spot a good idea for producing a movie by just seeing what was going on in the world.   Space, the Explorer satellite (among others) was making headline news and president Eisenhower worked with the Congress to get NASA up and running.   1958 was all about space, so let’s make a movie about what might happen in space on a manned exploratory flight.

Roger turned to his brother Gene, who had a working relationship with filmmaker Bernard Kowalski, newcomer Martin Varno delivered the screenplay and Night of the Blood Beast went into production with Corman regulars as the cast members, including Michael Emmet, Angela Greene and Ed Nelson … and speaking of “regulars,” the “creature” costume used in the film had just been used in another Corman production, so it did go to waste (that’s how Roger Corman never lost money making a movie in Hollywood).

Night of the Blood Beast remarkably has many of the elements of two future sci-fi classic … Alien and The Thing.   Astronaut John Corcoran (Emmet) is on a low-orbit mission to gather re-entry data, but something goes wrong and his ship crashes.   A local research crew rushes to the crash site and discovers him dead.

They return to their facility with his body and genre fans will immediately recognize the film’s motif — this is a haunted house thriller and the research scientists are the “victim pool!” 

It seems that Corcoran — who comes back to life — has been “infected” with alien embryos and the invading creature (hiding in a nearby cave and killing off the “threats” one by one) is using him to gestate the vanguard of an invading force.   Can the survivors of this remote research station unravel the mystery and defeat the creature … or is the earth doomed!!

The very next collaboration between producer Gene Corman and director Bernard Kowalski was the companion film in this Film Masters double-feature presentation … Attack of the Giant Leeches.

So how cool is it that both Night of the Blood Beast (a new 4K film restoration) and Attack of the Giant Leeches are on Blu-ray (or DVD) as a double-feature from Film Masters this coming Nov. 12.   Pretty cool.

But it gets even better!   Get a load of the bonus goodies that are included with these Corman gems ... Tom Weaver and the Weaver Players provide commentary for both films, there is a documentary on the film career of Bernard Kowalski, before-and-after comparisons on the 4K restoration and both of the MST3K episodes featuring these films.

 

 

Arrow Video Tabs Dec. 17 For The 4K Ultra HD Debut Of Director Marco Brambilla's Demolition Man

Arrow Video, with domestic sales and distribution support provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has tabbed Dec. 17 as the street date for both 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray editions of director Marco Brambilla’s futuristic sci-fi thriller, Demolition Man, starring Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone.

This is a new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative.

The production problems, beginning with the script (and re-writes) as well as the  casting are of Hollywood legend.   The film went $20 to $30 million over budget and still made money.'

Imagine Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme as Spartan and Phoenix — maybe that works, who knows.  Didn’t happen.  Both Stallone and Snipes said no, no, no and yet they finally came around. 

Sandra Bullock (pre-Speed) got a huge break when Lori Petty, fresh from A League of Their Own, couldn’t get along with Stallone and was fired 48 hours into the production!!

When all was said and done … Demolition Man worked!!

As to bonus goodies, there are three separate commentary options.   The first is an archived commentary featuring Brambilla and producer Joel Silver, while the other two are both new — Brambilla teams with screenwriter Daniel Waters and film historian Mike White provides the third.

Additional bonuses include five featurettes — “Demolition Design,” “Cryo Action,” “Biggs’ Body Shoppe,” “Tacos and Hockey Pucks” and “Somewhere Over the Rambo.”

Paramount Home Entertainment Prepares Anniversary 4K Editions For Taratino's Pulp Fiction (30th - Dec. 3) And Nolan's Interstellar (10th - Dec. 10)

In any other year, auteur filmmaker Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction would have easily won the Best Picture Oscar, but with both Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption in the mix it became a very tight competition (would love to see the final voting results) and Forrest Gump prevailed.

All three films are highly watchable — and enjoyable — to this day, which say quite a bit about the quality of the competition in 1994.

Paramount Home Entertainment announced this past week that Pulp Fiction will be marking its 30th anniversary with a newly minted 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack Limited Edition on Dec. 3 (Tarantino’s masterpiece will also be making a theatrical return with new 35mm prints).

Also celebrating its 10th anniversary is filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s time-shifting sci-fi thriller, Interstellar, which will be a 4K Ultra HD/2 Blu-ray Combo Pack presentation on Dec. 10.

Included as bonus content is the newly-minted presentation of “The Future is Now: A Look Back at Interstellar.”   The balance of the bonuses are archived from the initial Blu-ray launch of the film.

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment Readies Writer/Director James Wakins' Speak No Evil (Nov. 19) And Filmmaking Chris Sanders' The Wild Robot (Dec. 3) For The Physical Media Markertplace

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is busy moving current theatrical inventory into the physical media marketplace before 2024 comes to an end with the assignment of calendar slots for two recent hit films.

So let’s get right to it!!

First up, writer/director James Watkins’ English language remake of the Danish/Dutch horror tale, Speak No Evil (2022 by director Christian Taldrup), will be available on Nov. 19 as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings.

The ARR is a quick-to-market 67 days and the domestic box office take was $35.2 million.
A premium VOD window opened on Oct. 1, which was just 18 days into the film’s domestic theatrical run.  The “Helper” community gets seven full weeks to move Blu-ray copies of their own to eager genre fans.

Bonus delights include commentary from Watkins and three production featurettes — “Nuclear Families,” “A Horrifying Crescendo” and “The Farmhouse of Horrors.”

Repeating the same release pattern — 67 days from theatrical to home entertainment, with a VOD premium window also of just 18 days — is writer/director Chris Sanders’ animated sci-fi adventure, The Wild Robot.

The street date will be Dec. 3, however instead of just DVD and Blu-ray product offerings, The Wild Robot will also include a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack purchasing option.
Bonus goodies include an impressive nine featurettes — “Commercial for Rozzum,” “Moments from the Mic,” “Meet the Cast,” “The Overprotective Mother,” “Assembly Required: Animating The Wild Robot,” “Feeling Alive,” “Wild Sounds,” “How to Draw” and “Fly Your Own Brightbill.”

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Looks To Nov. 5 As The Street Date For Both Blu-ray And DVD Editions Of Director/Actor Justin Baldoni's It Ends With Us

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has tabbed Nov. 5 as the street date for both Blu-ray and DVD editions of director/actor Justin Baldoni’s film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 best selling novel, It Ends With Us.

The ARR comes in at 88 days and the domestic box office for this Blake Lively vehicle currently stands at an impressive $148 million.   This is against a reported production budget of $25 million, which makes this a very profitable film production for all involved (especially when you add in foreign markets … and the other revenue streams). 

Sony inserted a premium VOD window 46 days into the theatrical run (Sept. 24), which gave eager “Helpers” a full six weeks to peddle their own Blu-ray (and DVD) editions to unsuspecting fans.

There are no bonus features included with this initial release.    

In other release news from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Oct. 15 will be the release date for a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack edition of filmmaker Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving.   DVD and Blu-ray selections were initially released at the end of January (not uncommon for the 4K option to arrive later in the physical media release cycle). 

Bonus features (archived from the initial Blu-ray outing) include commentary from writer/director Eli Roth and co-writer Jeff Rendell, deleted and extended scenes, outtakes and a trio of featurettes — “Massachusetts Movies: Eli & Jeff's Early Films,” “Behind the Screams” and “Gore Galore.”

New bonus are two featurettes — “Carve Diem” and “Giving Shanks.”

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment's Full Spread Physical Media Launch For Tim Burton's Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Will Take Place On Nov. 19

The hits continue to come from Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, so it is just a question of where one starts when ticking them off.   

Let’s start with the full physical media rollout of director Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on Nov. 19.   That street date yields an ARR of 74 days … the domestic box office take currently stands at $277.2 million.

There will be four purchasing options — stand alone DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD editions, plus a Limited Edition 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo Pack.

Impressive!

Not so impressive is the current obsession among the studios to insert premium VOD dates between the theatrical launch and the subsequent move to the physical media marketplace.   This is the equivalent of selling the paperback before the hard cover first edition … violating the long-standing rule of “Promo, Better, Best.”'

With Beetjuice Beetlejuice the VOD window opened on Oct. 8, which gave the “Helper” community six full weeks to churn-out Blu-ray editions of their own to unsuspecting consumers.

That aside, bonus features — which are limited to the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD SKUs — include commentary from Burton and seven production featurettes — “The Juice is Loose! The Making of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” “The Ghost with the Most: Beetlejuice Returns,” “Meet the Deetz,” “Handbook for the Recently Deceased,” “Shrinkers, Shrinkers Everywhere!,” “An Animated Afterlife: The Stop-Motion Art of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “‘Til Death Do Us Park.”

Also arriving on 4K Ultra HD this coming Nov. 19 is the 40th anniversary celebration of director James Cameron’s The Terminator.

Bonus features are seven deleted scenes and three featurettes — “Creating The Terminator: Visual Effects & Music,” “The Terminator: Closer to the Real Thing” and “Unstoppable Force: The Legacy of The Terminator.”

And, digging into the vaults, Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment will also be releasing on Nov. 19 a 4K Ultra HD edition of director Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 wrong-man thriller, North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.

Bonus features include commentary by screenwriter Ernest Lehman and five feaaturettes — “North by Northwest: Cinematography, Score and the Art of the Edit,” “Destination Hitchcock: The Making of North by Northwest,” “The Master’s Touch: Hitchcock’s Signature Style,” “North by Northwest: One for the Ages” and “A Guided Tour with Alfred Hitchcock.”