Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF August 13th, 2018

LISTING PAGES:

BLAXPLOITATION, OZPloitation, 'WOMEN IN PRISON' CINEMA, CREATURE-FEATURES (on Blu-ray!), PRE-CODE FILMs (on Blu-ray!), SILENT ERA FILMs (on Blu-ray!), HAMMER Studios (on Blu-ray!) The 100 BEST Neo-Noirs (on Blu-ray!), The GREATEST 100 Westerns (on Blu-ray!), Giallo on Blu-ray!, ESSENTIAL NOIR on Blu-ray!, Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.FR (France), Shopping Guide for Blu-rays at Amazon.DE (Germany) and our LATEST ARTICLES: Movies From... the End of the World,  The Beauties of Star Trek (TOS)

Feature Blu-rays chosen for the Month of AUGUST!

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

Gary at 2ze dot com

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): It took its time getting to use but Sergio Corbucci's The Great Silence Blu-ray was well worth the wait. A gripping and brilliant spaghetti western that rose to the very heights of the genre. It offers a solid 1080P presentation, in both Italian and English language versions and some good extras including alternate endings and a new liner notes essay. A marvelous film experience that tops our comments this newsletter. Sticking with the pasta westerns, I also really enjoyed Franco Giraldi's A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die on Kino Blu-ray. It's only the shorter English-language version but still a thoroughly enjoyable entry in the genre and it has Robert Ryan sneaking into the final third. Although only the tip of the 4K UHD format both Dario Argento's Suspiria and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (Zombie) gain benefit from the higher resolution (3840 X 2160). It will generally be more notable over Blu-ray by those who project, but the superiority is there, more dependant on your system, for these iconic horror films. We compare to Blu-ray as it is always great to have choices. Deep Rising is a thrilling, late 90's creature-feature aboard a vacated luxury cruise liner - and the non-stop action lives up to the premise. The Kino Blu-ray has plenty of value with a strong a/v and extensive extras including hours of interviews and the filmmaker's commentary. Let your hair down and enjoy. And speaking of creature-features, the lauded director James Cameron had exploitation genre roots in Piranha 2: The Spawning where the toothy fish have evolved to fly! Cheesy fun abounds with Shout! Factory's new Blu-ray. The sexy thriller Color of Night with Bruce Willis and nubilic Jane March gets a stacked Blu-ray release from Kino offering both the both original 122-Minute Theatrical Cut and the 140-Minute Director's Cut - both with separate commentaries. Double-identities, death threats and love scenes abound in this limp but very watchable mid 90's murder-mystery. Shaw Brothers Studios The Vengeful Beauty has the pleasing charm of a 70's Wushu classic - now on Blu-ray from 88 Films. Also released by them in the UK is Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story - it touches the edges of the Italian cannibalsploitation genre and the 88 Films Blu-ray is a significant leap over their own 2013 DVD. No DVDs this week - maybe next week, probably not!

'There is no other occupation in the world that so closely resembled enslavement as the career of a film star.' - Louise Brooks

Have an organized week!

Color of Night BD - When New York psychiatrist Bill Capa (Bruce Willis, in an uncharacteristically un-smirking performance) visits Los Angeles to take over his murdered colleague's therapy group, he finds himself embroiled in the thick of a mystery when he bumps into (literally) Rosa (Jane March) and begins a torrid affair. Double-identities, death threats and love scenes abound as he delves deeper into the case to uncover the truth about his friend's death. Blu-ray Release Date: August 21st, 2018

The Vengeful Beauty BD - While Ho Meng-hua didn't direct the like-titled sequel to his internationally popular Flying Guillotine, he did helm this exceptional follow-up, which stars the gorgeous Chen Ping as the fearless title character, who takes on an entire flying guillotine gang, despite the fact that she's pregnant! Blu-ray Release Date: August 13th, 2018

A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die BD - Time is running out for the fastest gun in the west! Old habits die fast in this brutal, violent and intensely realistic western about a desperate gunslinger who's hunted by the law... and haunted by his past! Starring Alex Cord, Arthur Kennedy, Robert Ryan, Mario Brega and Nicoletta Machiavelli, A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die is heavily armed with great atmosphere and top-notch action – from breathtaking beginning... to the explosive climax. When Clay McCord (Cord), the fastest draw in the West, gets the shakes in his shooting arm, he decides to hang up his guns for good. But riding the straight and narrow may be more dangerous than he ever imagined – especially when his only hope for survival lies in the hands of a shady sheriff whose offer of amnesty hides something far deadlier. Stylishly directed by Franco Giraldi. Blu-ray Release Date: August 28th, 2018

Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story BD - Young Catherine Miles (Elvire Audray) is facing trial in the Amazon for the murders of two people, and her lawyer has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of extenuating circumstances. In flashback, she tells of leaving her boarding school in London to join her parents at their rubber plant in the Amazon. On her eighteenth birthday, she takes a trip down the river with her parents only for them to be ambushed by headhunters who murder her parents and sweep her temporarily blow-dart-paralyzed nubile form (and her parents' heads) off into the jungle and back to their village. Blu-ray Release Date: August 20th, 2018

Deep Rising BD - On the maiden voyage of the luxury liner Argonautica, pickpocket Trillian (Famke Janssen) is caught stealing jewels and locked up. After the ship's communication system is infected with a virus, the ship collides with a massive underwater object. When John Finnegan (Treat Williams) and others board the Argonautica, they are surrounded by death. Survivors Trillian, builder Simon Canton (Anthony Heald), and others talk of sea monsters, but Hanover (Wes Studi) doesn't believe them -- until the fanged, squid-like creature (designed by Rob Bottin) extends its huge tentacles and makes its presence known to all. Filmed in Vancouver and the northern Pacific under the working title Tentacles. Blu-ray Release Date: August 21st, 2018

The Great Silence BD - Italian filmmaker Sergio Corbucci directed this serious-minded populist spin on the spaghetti western, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant as Silence, whose vocal cords have been slashed by sadistic bounty hunters. Silence joins with local hillfolk in fighting the corrupt and tyrannical authorities in the town of Snow Mill. Corbucci's sympathies are clearly with his bandit heroes, who are only doing what they must to survive, while the law is represented by a corrupt sheriff, who lets his wealthy patrons run wild, and sadistic scum like Klaus Kinski, who kills the poor because he enjoys it. Politically charged in a way that only a film of its time could be, Il Grande Silenzio's themes of class struggle and violent revolution were a bit too hot for an American release in 1968. Vonetta McGee co-stars with genre regulars Frank Wolff, Luigi Pistilli, and Raf Baldassare. Blu-ray Release Date: June 5th, 2018

Suspiria 4K UHD - Suzy Bannion is an American ballet student, travelling to Germany to study at an exclusive dance academy in the Black Forest. After one of the students and her friend are hideously murdered in the first of Argento's breath-catching set-piece killings, Suzy discovers that the academy has a bizarre history and, as the body count rises, she gets involved in a hideous labyrinth of murder, black magic and madness. Utilising complex lighting systems, intense film processing techniques, wire-guided cameras and multi-layer music recording (highlighting a superb Goblin score), Argento paints a masterpiece of terror on a technically impeccable canvas. 4K UHD Release Date: December 6th, 2017

Dawn of the Dead (Zombie) 4K UHD - As hordes of zombies swarm over the U.S., the terrified populace tries everything in their power to escape the attack of the undead, but neither cities nor the countryside prove safe. In Pennsylvania, radio-station employee Stephen (David Emge) and his girlfriend, Francine (Gaylen Ross), escape in the station helicopter, accompanied by two renegade SWAT members, Roger and Pete. The group retreats to the haven of an enclosed shopping center to make what could be humanity's last stand. 4K UHD Release Date: November 24th, 2016

Piranha 2: The Spawning BD - It may seem like paradise, but just off shore, a new brand of terror has been unleashed ...
While investigating the mysterious death of a diver, scuba instructor Anne Kimbrough (Tricia O’Neil) makes a horrific discovery: mutated piranhas, with wings that enable them to fly, are responsible for the death. As the body count rises, Anne desperately tries to convince the manager of the resort to call off the annual fish fry on the beach, but he’s determined to give his guests the ultimate feeding frenzy. Blu-ray Release Date: July 31st, 2018
 

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