NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Arrow Blu-ray (May 2021): Arrow have transferred six of director Bill Rebane's features to Blu-ray. It is entitled Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection. The films included are Monster A Go-Go (1965), Invasion from Inner Earth (1974), The Alpha Incident (1978), The Demons Of Ludlow (1983), The Game (1984) and Twister's Revenge! (1988) spread over three dual-layered Blu-rays with a 4th containing further bonus extras. It puts one in mind of Arrow's massive The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast Blu-ray Boxset or their He Came from the Swamp: The William Grefé Collection Blu-ray package. Low budget, often forgotten, genre films that won't be making any Sight and Sound Polls. Of Rebane's films, I believe I had only seen Blood Harvest (1987) and The Giant Spider Invasion (1975.) The six films here are 2-per-disc with The Game having both 1.33:1 and 1.85:1 versions. Typical of Arrow these are good 1080P transfers with high-ish bitrates. They all look to have been shot on 16mm, so the HD presentations are quite grainy. Monster A Go-Go has persistent marks on the frame that last most of the film. The damage and vertical scratches is the type of thing retro Grindhouse filmmakers strive for. Monster A Go-Go, is black and white in 1.33:1 and Invasion from Inner Earth is in that same aspect ratio, but in color. The rest are 1.85:1 (with The Game having offering both.) Colors on the color features looks strong with some depth, except Twister's Revenge! that looks a shade blasé (and is my least favorite of the group.) The overall visuals are dominated by their grain textures with limitations of the production visible. Our screen captures should give you a decent idea. 

NOTE: We have added 160 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Arrow use DTS-HD Master mono tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. There are no notable scores with some stock music but, it seems, always a dance sequences in the films. Bill seems to like that - see his two early shorts. It all sounds very flat and authentic with clear dialogue. Arrow offer optional English subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray.

The Arrow Blu-ray offers a massive amount of supplements. There is the six part (one per film) Straight Shooter interviews about the 'making of' with director Bill Rebane. They run about ten minutes each - almost an hour in total. The director is charismatic for his frankness and honesty. Quite enjoyable really. There is a brand new 1/4 hour interview with historian and critic Kim Newman about the films of Bill Rebane - and he is always fun and informative. Arrow include three shorts of the director Twist Craze, Dance Craze and Kidnap Extortion from 1973 - the latter is a newly restored industrial short running 14-minutes. The three Blu-rays with the features all have stills and promotional galleries. Rebane’s Key Largo is a new visual essay by historian and critic Richard Harland Smith, and it is good. There is also a 1/2 hour featurette; Discovering Bill Rebane and trailers for most of the films. The fourth Blu-ray has a 2-hour documentary entitled Who is Bill Rebane? by historian and critic David Cairns, featuring contributions from filmmakers, fans, historians, critics, and the cast and crew who worked with Bill Rebane. Lots of love put into it. This is considered a limited edition exclusive. There is also the 1.5 hour King of the Wild Frontier, extensive Outtakes for three of the films and a trailer for The Giant Spider Invasion. The package includes a fully illustrated 60-page collector’s booklet featuring extensive new writing by historian and critic Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of Exploitation Independents, plus has a reversible poster and reversible sleeves featuring newly commissioned artwork.

I see Bill also made a film entitled The Capture of Bigfoot. I am a sucker for Bigfoot flics - so I'm disappointed that this was not included. I entered this Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection with an open mind, seeing the abysmal IMDb ratings, but let me tell you - these aren't that bad. Only Monster A Go-Go had a totally discordant Ed Wood-like sequence and it's still the film here that I like the most. Horror fans will certainly appreciate the effort put into The Demons Of Ludlow and The Game. I wasn't keen on the Hicksploitation effort Twister's Revenge!  There are obvious budget constraints and some lechery with frequent cheesecake, voyeuristic men gaping at women and the aforementioned dancing scenes cropping up. Yeah, a little sleaze can go a long way. I am quite pleased to have now seen these six films - not that they were on my bucket-list or anything but there is a charisma about these sci-fi/occult genre productions and a range of performances, poor quality, slapdash, effects but occasional glimpses of adeptness.  Obviously, Arrow's Blu-ray of Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection will not appeal to all tastes but I suspect many will find pleasure in his films if you can anticipate the imperfections and focus on there effective qualities . Enjoy!

Gary Tooze