Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF October 3rd, 2016

Matcaci! Another loaded week with 15 new Blu-ray reviews/comparisons via Shout! Factory, Arrow, Signal One, Film Movement, Warner Archive, Kino, Film Detective, Universal... of films by John Ford, Brian De Palma, John Carpenter, Terence Fisher, Jerry Schatzberg, Takeshi Kitano, Freddie Francis, George Marshall, Jess Franco. Our Calendar still has the previous week's listings including December Criterions of films by John Huston, Nicholas Ray, Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Abel Ferrara, Jack Arnold, William Wellman, Woody Allen, Gus Van Sant, Brian De Palma and more. Feature Blu-ray and DVD is posted for OCTOBER. We have a CONTEST posted with a BRAND NEW Arrow Blu-ray prize. Have fun!

Arrow Blu-rays and DVDs are still 50% OFF at Barnes and Noble HERE

DVDBeaver has their own store at Movie Zyng - check it out! Many have $1 shipping - even overseas!

Feature Blu-ray and DVD chosen for the Month of OCTOBER!

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(Week of) October 3rd CONTEST  identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a Brand New Arrow Blu-ray prize of Slugs Best of luck!

If there are DVD or Blu-ray titles you'd like us to cover - please feel free to recommend!

Gary at 2ze dot com

Violent Cop BD - What should have been a comic Dirty Harry-ish farce, became an gritty, dark and violent tale, when director Kinji Fukasaku walked out of the project and Kitano was offered the chance to direct. Kitano virtually rewrote the entire script, removed all comedy and made himself a platform, from which he could show his serious side. Originally a stand-up comic, Kitano followed the advice from friend and director Nagisa Oshima and played criminals in order to express not only his darker side but also his dramatic talent. Having done this quiet successfully on TV and in Oshima’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence”, Kitano felt let down, when all he was offered was comic roles: Now he had the chance to control what he wanted. Blu-ray Release Date: October 11th, 2016

The Panic in Needle Park BD - In many ways the harsh hangover to the previous decade’s hope-filled high, American film in the ‘70s extracted much of its power from documenting the fallout from the dreams of the ‘60s. Bleak and intimate, The Panic in the Needle Park rolls up the drug culture’s sleeve and picks at the scabs underneath. The title of Jerry Schatzberg’s account of heroin abuse refers to the drug trade in New York City’s Sherman Square, which provided local addicts with an illusory feeling of community. Helen (Kitty Winn) is first spotted in a crowded subway car following a clandestine abortion, and the muted pain in her soft face sets the film’s tone of neurasthenic distress. Signal One Blu-ray Release Date: September 26th, 2016

Carrie BD - Based on the best-selling Stephen King novel, Carrie "catches the mind, shakes it and refuses to let it go" (Time)! Starring Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie (in Oscar nominated* performances), John Travolta and Amy Irving, this ultimate revenge fantasy is "absolutely spellbinding" (Roger Ebert), "outrageously witty" (Los Angeles Times) and one of the all-time great horror classics! At the center of the terror is Carrie (Spacek), a tortured high-school misfit with no confidence, no friends...and no idea about the extent of her secret powers of telekinesis. But when her psychotic mother and sadistic classmates finally go too far, the once-shy teen becomes an unrestrained, vengeance-seeking powerhouse who, with the help of her 'special gift,' causes all hell to break loose in a famed cinematic frenzy of blood, fire and brimstone!... Shout! Factory Blu-ray Release date: October 11th, 2016

The Glass Key BD - In this slick updating of Dashiell Hammet's crime novel, political boss Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy) falls for reform politician Ralph Henry's attractive daughter Janet (Veronica Lake), despite the caution of his best friend, Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd). Paul's efforts to disassociate himself from the criminal underworld backfire, however, when he is accused of murdering Janet's disreputable brother, and a casino owner Paul had offended sends his sadistic thugs after Ed in revenge. Arrow Blu-ray Release Date: September 19th, 2016

The Blue Dahlia BD - Ladd's returning war veteran stalks stoically down those mean streets once more in search of the killer of his wife (Dowling), a faithless floozie undeserving of his concern. Raymond Chandler's script never quite recovers from the Navy Department's objection to having Ladd's war-wounded buddy Bendix, wandering around with a steel plate in his head and intermittent amnesia, turn out to have done the killing (out of outraged loyalty to his friend, then blanking it out in his memory). The plot rewrite involves one or two arbitrary connections and a much less satisfactory conclusion. A fine hardboiled thriller for all that, with excellent dialogue and performances, and much more apt direction from Marshall than one might expect. Blu-ray Release Date: September 19th, 2016

Slugs BD - The townsfolk of a rural community are dying in strange and gruesome circumstances. Following the trail of horrifically mutilated cadavers, resident health inspector Mike Brady is on the case to piece together the mystery. He soon comes to a terrifying conclusion giant slugs are breeding in the sewers beneath the town, and they re making a meal of the locals! Blu-ray Release Date: September 27th, 2016

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon BD - The second of John Ford's "Cavalry Trilogy", She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is the only one of the three to be lensed in Technicolor. In an Oscar-calibre performance, 42-year old John Wayne plays sixtyish Cavalry Captain Nathan Brittles. In his last days before his compulsory retirement, Brittles must face the possibility of a full-scale attack from the Arapahos, fomented by the recent defeat of Custer and by double-dealing Indian agents. After a series of minor victories and major frustrations, Brittles decides to ride into the Arapaho camp, there to smoke a pipe of peace with his old friend, Chief Pony That Walks (Chief John Big Tree). Before he leaves, he is presented with his retirement present by his troops: a pocket watch, with the inscription "Lest We Forget" (Wayne's playing of this scene, barely holding back tears as he adjusts his spectacles to read the inscription, is one of his finest moments on film). Warner Archive Blu-ray Release date: June 7th, 2016

The Evil of Frankenstein BD - In the opening to this particular outing, Frankenstein, and his faithful assistant Hans (Sandor Eles, Surviving Picasso), purchase a corpse in order to revivify the still warm heart; they are successful but the local priest interrupts their experiments and destructively sets about their equipment. Frankenstein rails against the continual interference that hampers his work. Seriously skint, the Baron proposes that the pair return to his family seat at Karlstaad, scene of his original experiments, where the family home will supply them with artefacts to sell to fund further research. Universal Blu-ray Release date: September 13th, 2016

The Thing (CE) BD - John Carpenter's The Thing is both a remake of Howard Hawks' 1951 film of the same name and a re-adaptation of the John W. Campbell Jr. story "Who Goes There?" on which it was based. Carpenter's film is more faithful to Campbell's story than Hawks' version and also substantially more reliant on special effects, provided in abundance by a team of over 40 technicians, including veteran creature-effects artists Rob Bottin and Stan Winston. The film opens enigmatically with a Siberian Husky running through the Antarctic tundra, chased by two men in a helicopter firing at it from above. Shout! Factory Blu-ray Release Date: October 11th, 2016

Daughter of Dracula BD - This uneven erotic horror film from cult director Jesus Franco stars Britt Nichols as Luisa Karlstein, who visits the family mansion in Portugal to see her dying grandmother, the Baroness (Carmen Carbonell). Luisa soon learns that the family is cursed with vampirism, but moves into the mansion regardless, only to encounter strange and sexual phenomena. But murders have been occurring in the adjacent seaside village, bringing Inspector Ptuschko (Alberto Dalbes) to investigate. Blu-ray Release date: October 4th, 2016

Patterns BD - Rod Serling’s tale of ruthless men and ambitious women clawing for control of a billion dollar empire first aired in Jan 1955 on Kraft Television Theater. The hard-hitting teleplay was such a success, earning Serling instant acclaim and the first of his six Emmy awards, that producers Jed Harris and Michael Myerberg helmed a big screen feature with the same director (Fielder Cook) and most of the same cast for United Artists. The result was an acid-etched chronicle of the cutthroat corporate world starring Van Heflin, Everett Sloane, and Ed Begley. Blu-ray Release date: September 27th, 2016

The Phantom of the Opera BD - A peculiarly low-keyed film, containing very little violence by Hammer's standards (it didn't even get an X certificate), with the whole Phantom theme handled remarkably tamely (and Lom suffering from a particularly unimaginative make-up and mask). But Fisher's direction is as accomplished as ever, and there are several good flourishes in the opera house auditorium. Because of its restraint and a fairly thin plot, the overall effect of the film is curiously abstract, evolving into a series of nice sets and compositions. Universal Blu-ray Release date: September 13th, 2016

Astro Zombies BD - Though it has something of a cult reputation, let's face it; this one is wretched. This is not to say there's not a certain appeal to the movie. Tura Satana has a presence that is not soon forgotten, and there's some fun to be had with John Carradine and his assistant. The opening murder made a huge impression on me when the movie popped up on a my local Creature Feature, and the scene where an astro-zombie makes his getaway while holding a flashlight to his forehead is good for some laughs. Blu-ray Release date: October 11th, 2016

Once Were Warriors BD - An emotionally raw, visually stylish first feature, with the intensity of the best social melodrama, about the indomitable spirit of battered Maori wife Beth Heke (Owen) as she struggles to hold together her disintegrating family. Husband Jake (Morrison) is a violent yet charismatic bully, the sullen eldest son is already a gang member, the youngest is in care, and only gifted daughter Grace (Kerr-Bell) offers hope for the future. A gritty human drama evoking the residual vibrancy of a threatened culture. Blu-ray Release date: September 6th, 2016

Paranoiac BD - A forgotten gem from the legendary Hammer Studios, available for the first time on home video in the UK, this sinister classic spins a gruesome web of unhappy families. It is three weeks before the Ashby siblings Simon (Oliver Reed), a brutish alcoholic, and Eleanor (Janette Scott), a nervous wreck, are to come into their late parents' inheritance. While Simon plans to have his sister certified insane and locked away, Eleanor keeps seeing the lurking figure of their long-dead brother Tony around the estate. Who or what is this apparition, and does he threaten to reveal skeletons in the closet (and elsewhere)? A massively entertaining horror treat in the best English Gothic tradition, Paranoiac features a superbly oily lead performance from a young Oliver Reed, stunning black & white Cinemascope photography, an ingenious script by Jimmy Sangster, and gripping direction by the great Freddie Francis. Universal Blu-ray Release date: September 13th, 2016
 

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