Director Peter Maris' Delirium Arrives (Finally) On DVD And Blu-ray On Jan. 25 Courtesy Of Severin Films

There are still films out there with a following that have yet to move beyond VHS.   DVD has been around since 1997 and yet some genre-fan treasures remain MIA.   Sad, very sad.

On Jan. 25 you can take one of these missing treasures off of the list courtesy of Severin Films.

With sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, writer/director Peter Maris’ 1980 crazed serial killer thriller, Delirium, will not only be making its DVD debut in late January, but Severin Films is also releasing the film on Blu-ray as well.

It was Peter Maris first film, shot in and around St. Louis, Missouri beginning in June of 1978, it would be “in the can” (finished and ready for distribution) by late November.   As is often the case with indie productions, finding theatrical distribution can be a challenge.  

To accomplish that, Maris previewed the film in St. Louis in July of 1979 and that appears to have done the trick as Osyssey Pictures picked it up and took Delirium out regionally in 1980, opening in the Los Angeles market in November of 1980.

About this time there was something earth-shaking taking place in the world of viewing options … that would be the arrival of the VCR.   Suddenly movies could be viewed in the comfort of your home and that’s where Delirium surfaced next, on VHS in the mid-1980s.   And that was it.   Until now!!

Charlie Gunther (Nick Panouzis) and his buddy, Eric Stern (Barron Winchester), have stumbled into a pretty interesting business opportunity.   They are Vietnam vets and have been recruited by a local group of businessmen to clean up the streets.   Kill the criminal element at your pleasure.   This thug is causing trouble, on the kill list he goes … and the next stop is the corpse of the trouble-maker being tossed into the mighty Mississippi!

There is just one little problem with this win-win situation, and that is Charlie.   He starts having flashbacks to his combat days in Vietnam and gets it in his crazed brain that the enemy is everywhere.  He becomes a serial killer and the police are having a difficult time “nailing” down the suspect in an ever-grown string of random killings.

What makes the film especially interesting is that it is graphic before graphic was the rage.   And, let’s be honest, Maris (Terror Squad, Viper, The Killer Inside, Alien Species, Zombie Hunters, etc.) did this on a shoestring and some of the “backstory” (flashbacks to Vietnam) elements are a little cheezy.   The main story, however, works like a charm.

First time on either DVD or Blu-ray, which means for a generation of horror fans, this is virtually unseen.   Bonus features are two featurettes — “Directing Deliriium” and “Monster is Man.”

 

 

 

 

Blue Underground Prepares New 4K Film Restorations On DVD And Blu-ray Of Dead & Buried For Delivery On Feb. 22

Blue Underground, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has a new 4K film restoration of director Gary A, Sherman’s 1981 horror chiller, Dead & Buried, ready for genre fans to enjoy as either DVD or Blu-ray product offerings on Feb. 22.

It was 1979 and Ronald Shusett was busy with Alien, which he had started working on with Dan O’Bannon in 1975, it would end up being a blockbuster, not only for these two newbies, but for director Ridley Scott and actors Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton and more.  It was during this time that an opportunity to work on another project fell into their laps.

A story idea had been snapped up by fellow producer Robert Fentress, who didn’t know quite what to do next, but he did manage to hook up with Shusett, who was just as green as he was (of course that would soon change).   Where the money was coming from to actually produced the film was influx … but somehow it would all eventually come together, especially when the “money people” where able to leverage the success of Alien.

In early 1980 production got underway in Mendocino, California, with Stan Winston on board for the makeup effects, with Gary A. Sherman as director.

Welcome to the beach community of Potters Bluff, where strange is the operative word.   We just jump right in with an amateur photographer by the name of George (Christopher Allport) meeting an attractive young woman, whom he calls Lisa (Lisa Blunt … her next film would be An Officer and a Gentleman) and to his surprise and delight she offers to pose for him on the beach (and more).

Pretty soon people from the town begin to show up on the beach and “strange” kicks in as George is beaten and set ablaze.  

The next citizen of Potters Bluff we meet is the sheriff, Dan Gillis (played by James Farentino, who had just finished The Final Countdown), who discovers George’s crispy-fried body in a car wreck, and calls in the coroner, William C. Dobbs (Jack Albertson), to process the body … but up jumps George, he’s not dead.

Not to worry, the nurse at the hospital (who looks suspiciously like the girl on the beach) makes quick work of him.   Dead now.

Meanwhile, as the sheriff investigates, we see many of the townspeople who were responsible for the assault on George … what the hell is going on?    A town full of murdering maniacs, who lead seemingly normal lives?   Included among these is the sheriff’s wife, Janet (Melody Anderson — as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon)

Wait a second, isn’t the new guy running the gas station, Freddie, the spitting image of the now dead George?   Like we said, what the hell is going on in Potters Bluff?   The body count will mount … visit Potters Bluff and you will not live long!!

Of course, genre fans know what the MacGuffin is.   Let’s just say that the kindly Dobbs is not what he seems to be … neither are the people of the town.

Bonus goodies include a whopping four commentary options.   One with director Gary A. Sherman, a second with writer/producer Ronald Shusett and actress Linda Turley (aka: Mrs. Shusett), number three features the director of photography Steven Poster and the final one teams film historian Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson.

There are also seven featurettes — “Behind the Scenes of Dead & Buried,” “Dead & Buried Locations: Now and Then,” “Murders, Mystery and Music,” “The Pages of Potters Bluff,” “Stan Winston’s Dead & Buried,” “Robert Englund: An Early Work of Horror” and “Dan O’Bannon: Crafting Fear.”  

 

 

 

 

 

Nozomi Entertainment Selects Jan. 11 For THe Blu-ray Release Of El-Hazard: The Alternate World

Nozomi Entertainment, with domestic sales and distribution expertise provided by Bayview Entertainment, looks to the New Year for the double-disc Blu-ray launch of El-Hazard: The Alternative World.

All 12 episodes of director Yasushito Kikuchi’s other-world adventure will be available on Blu-ray this coming Jan. 11 from Nozomi Entertainment.

Things seem peaceful, even festive as the new Princess of Water, the youngest ever from Mount Muldoon, who has come to replace Miz Mishtal, who has married Mr. Fujisawa.    But during her “induction” ceremony, the mysterious Arjah appears and presto, everyone is transported to the alternate, and very dreary, world of Creteria.

Here they discover the tyrant Dall Narciss, who rules with an iron fist.   The struggle is to find the way out, especially when they learn that Spring is not happening and their world is dying.   The key to their salvation is an ancient artifact known as the “Spring of Life.”   Tick tock … tick tock … time is running out.

Bonus features include the original Japanese language track, the English dubbed viewing option, textless openings and endings, plus the bonus OVA episode titled "Thirteenth Night.” 

 

 

 

 

VCI Entertainment's 4K Film Scan Of Zindy The Swamp Boy Heads To DVD On Feb. 08

The ultra-rare Zindy the Swamp Boy, from legendary Mexican filmmaker René Cardona Sr., will be getting a new 4K scan from the only known 35mm camera negative featuring the English-language presentation of the film courtesy of VCI Entertainment.

This exotic jungle adventure will be making its way to the DVD marketplace on Feb. 8.

Zindy (played by the late René Cardona III) survived the murder of his parents, his grandfather, Abuelo (René Cardona) took revenge and the pair became fugitives.  Abuelo raising his grandson in a swamp; a jungle, where danger lurks at every turn.   The pair are constantly being stalked by a cunning puma.

Zindy’s only companion is a chimp by the name of Toribio.

Zindy the Swamp Boy, made in 1973, is something of a cross between Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book and filmmaker Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno.  Beautiful, lyrical, haunting and tranquil, and yet deadly dangerous, not only from what lies within their hideaway, but what may find their hiding place from the outside.

The balance is changed when a young girl by the name of Anita (Lily Fields) wanders into their hidden domain.   Tragedy and death will follow. 

 

 

 

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Tabs Jan. 11 For The Launch Of Dune

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has locked into Jan. 11 as the street date for writer/director Denis Villeneuve’s newest adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 sci-fi novel, Dune.

The ARR calculates out to 81 days and domestic box office receipts currently stand at $93.2 million.

Planned for distribution in early January are Combo Pack editions for both the Blu-ray (with DVD) and 4K Ultra HD (with Blu-ray) formats, plus there will be a stand-alone DVD SKU.

The bonus feature common to all home entertainment package media release configurations is the four-part featurette titled “The Royal Houses.”

Exclusive to the Combo Pack editions are ten additional featurettes — “Inside Dune: The Training Room,” “Inside Dune: The Spice Harvester,” “Inside Dune: The Sardaukar Battle,” “Building the Ancient Future,” “My Desert, My Dune,” “Constructing the Ornithopters,” “Designing the Sandworm,” “Beware the Baron,” “Wardrobe from Another World” and “A New Soundscape.”

 

No Time To Die From Universl Pictures Home Entertainment On Dec. 21

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment will be teaming up with MGM on Dec. 21 for the three-SKU launch of the fifth and final film starring Daniel Craig as Ian Flemming’s 007, James Bond, in out-of-his-depth director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s No Time to Die.

It seemingly took forever for this Bond film to see the light of day.   First it was Danny Boyle as the director back in early 2018.   That blew up.   Then the pandemic and delay after delay, but finally James Bond was back in theatres on October 8 and not in the more lucrative Christmas-season release window.  

But not to worry, the domestic box office haul has grown to $150.4 million, which is still impressive when you factor in the relentless media and government promotion of Covid as a thing of terror.

For the record, the ARR works out to a swift-to-market 74 days (to make a Christmas-season retail date).

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

Bonus goodies are five featurettes — “Anatomy of a Scene: Matera,” “Keeping it Real: The Action of No Time to Die,” “A Global Journey,” “Designing Bond” and “Being James Bond.”

 

 

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Assigns Dec. 14 As The Street Date For Venom: Let There BeCarnage

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment looks to Dec. 14 as the street date for a three-SKU helping of director Andy Serkis’ sci-fi action hit, Venom: Let There be Carnage.

The ARR comes in at 74 days and domestic box office receipts are a stellar $202.6 million.

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

The first Venom, directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams and Woody Harrelson (uncredited as “Red,” aka: Cletus Kasady), pulled in a pre-pandemic $213.5 million, so with Hardy, Williams and Harrelson reprising their roles in this sequel, and, seeing the box office haul, there is hope on the horizon that people are returning to theatres at last.

Bonus features, which are limited to the Combo Pack editions, included outtakes, a blooper reel, six deleted scenes and a quartet of featurettes — “Eddie & Venom: The Odd Couple,” ”Sick and Twisted Cletus Kasady,” “Concept to Carnage” and “Let There be … Action.”