Suspiria (2-Disc Special Edition)
by Dario Argento
from Blue Underground
Outside of devoted cult audiences, many Americans have yet to discover the extremely stylish, relentlessly terrifying Italian horror genre, or the films of its talented virtuoso, Dario Argento. Suspiria, part one of a still-uncompleted trilogy (the luminously empty Inferno was the second), is considered his masterpiece by Argento devotees but also doubles as a perfect starting point for those unfamiliar with the director or his genre. The convoluted plot follows an American dancer (Jessica Harper) from her arrival at a European ballet school to her discovery that it's actually a witches coven; but, really, don't worry about that too much. Argento makes narrative subservient to technique, preferring instead to assault the senses and nervous system with mood, atmosphere, illusory gore, garish set production, a menacing camera, and perhaps the creepiest score ever created for a movie. It's essentially a series of effectively unsettling set pieces--a raging storm that Harper should have taken for an omen, and a blind man attacked by his own dog are just two examples--strung together on a skeleton structure. But once you've seen it, you'll never forget it. --Dave McCoy
Jessica Harper (PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE) stars as Suzy Banyon a young American ballet dancer who arrives at a prestigious European dance academy run by the mysterious Madame Blanc (Joan Bennett of DARK SHADOWS) and Miss Tanner (Alida Valli of KILLER NUN). But when a series of bizarre incidents and horrific crimes (including what Entertainment Weekly calls the most vicious murder scene ever filmed ) turn the school into a waking nightmare of the damned Suzy must escape the academy s unspeakable secret of supernatural evil.Experience the most shocking and hallucinatory horror movie in history as you ve never seen or heard it before now featuring the fully remastered landmark score by Goblin and a heart-stopping new film transfer supervised by cinematographer Luciano Tovoli. This is the definitive version of Dario Argento s SUSPIRIA an aria of terror beyond imagination and one of the most extraordinary horror films ever made.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 827058201391 Manufacturer No: BU2013
Cannibal Holocaust
by Ruggero Deodato
from Grindhouse Releasing
CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST
Banned and heavily censored throughout the world, here is a film that surpasses its reputation as a shotgun blast to the senses. Cannibal Holocaust presents the 'found footage' of four documentary filmmakers who experience brutal death at the hands of a savage South American tribe of flesh-eaters. The footage is so intense so graphic and so unflinching in its realism that the director and producer of Cannibal Holocaust were arrested on its original release and the film was seized.
Widely acknowledged as the uncredited inspiration for 'THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT', Cannibal Holocaust is essential to every video store's retail and rental selection. This definitive version of Deodato's masterwork ranks with the most highly anticipated and sourght after DVD releases in the history of the medium. Not for the weak of stomach, the film's horrifying power cannot be denied.
Be forwarned: This is the one that goes ALL THE WAY!
Images in a Convent
by Joe D'Amato
from Exploitation Digital
As nuns get possessed by the devil, the situation only worsens when well-meaning priests try to intervene.
Deep Red
by Dario Argento
from Blue Underground
Dario Argento s Masterpiece In It s Full-Length Director s Cut!An English jazz pianist living in Rome witnesses the brutal hatchet murder of a renowned psychic and is quickly drawn into the savage crime. With the help of a tenacious female reporter the pair track a twisted trail of deranged clues and relentless violence towards a shocking climax that has ripped screams from the throats of audiences for more than 30 years!DEEP RED stars David Hemmings (BLOW-UP) and Daria Nicolodi (PHENOMENA TENEBRE) and is widely considered by both fans and critics alike to be Dario Argento s true masterpiece. Now with the cooperation of the maestro himself this classic shocker is presented in its full-length Director s Cut remixed in 5.1 Dolby Digital uncut and uncensored for the first time ever!Extras: 25th Anniversary FeaturetteItalian Theatrical TrailerU.S. Theatrical TrailerTalent BiosSystem Requirements:Run Time: 126 mins Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 827058107099 Manufacturer No: 709
The Mario Bava Collection, Volume 1 (Black Sunday / Black Sabbath / The Girl Who Knew Too Much / Kill Baby Kill / Knives of the Avenger)
by Mario Bava
from Starz / Anchor Bay
Black SundayA vengeful witch and her fiendish servant return from the grave and begin a bloody campaign to possess the body of the witch's beautiful look-alike descendant. Only the girl's brother and a handsome doctor stand in her way.Black SabbathA trio of atmospheric horror tales about: A woman terrorized in her apartment by phone calls from an escaped prisoner from her past; a Russian count in the early 1800s who stumbles upon a family in the countryside trying to destroy a particularly vicious line of vampires; and a 1900-era nurse who makes a fateful decision while preparing the corpse of one of her patients - an elderly medium who died during a seance.Coltelli del vendicatore I After the apparent death of her husband King Arald a viking peasant woman named Karin takes her son Moki into hiding from Aghen King Arald's enemy. But a mysterous stranger named Rurik begins acting as Karin's guardian which evetually leads to a brutal showdown between Rurik and Aghen.Kill Baby KillDr. Eswai is called by Inspector Kruger to a small village to perform an autopsy on a woman who has died under suspicious circumstances. Despite help from Ruth the village witch Kruger is killed and it is revealed that the dead woman as well as other villagers have been killed by the ghost of Melissa a young girl who fed by the hatred of her grieving mother Baroness Graps exacts her revenge on them. Dr. Eswai along with Monica a local nurse are lured into a fateful confrontation at the Villa Graps.The Evil EyeNora is a young tourist traveling through Rome which takes a sudden turn when she witnesses a murder by a serial killer that the police have sought for years for the so-called Alphabet Killings and Nora soon finds herself in way-over-her-head trouble when the police want her cooperation to catch the killer while the mystery killer soon targets her for his next victim.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 013131485493 Manufacturer No: DV14854
Five of Mario Bava's best films are included in this box set, minus his forays into eroticism, like Blood and Black Lace. Still, the lines between sexual pathos and violence blur in these selections that influenced not only other famed directors of Giallo, such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, but also spawned the American golden age in horror, led by directors such as John Carpenter. Three black and white films here exemplify Bava's trademark use of chiaroscuro mixed with suspense-building cinematography first developed in early horror classics like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In the Hitchcock-inspired Evil Eye (1963), tourist Nora Davis (Leticia Roman) witnesses a murder but can't convince police of the crime. Kill Baby Kill! (1966) is the prototype for all little girl-ghost films. Dr. Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) is recruited to solve the mystery of Villa Graps, where Baroness Graps (Giana Vivaldi) reanimates her dead daughter, Melissa, by killing innocent villagers. In Black Sunday (1960), the witch Princess Asa Vajda comes back from the dead to inhabit her look-alike, Katia, both played by Barbara Steele, the original femme fatale to which all brunette vamps, like Soledad Miranda (Vampyros Lesbos) and Elvira, are indebted.
In Technicolor, Bava's fantastically rainbow-lit films underpin the director's fascination with connections between our world and those imagined. Black Sabbath (1963) is a trilogy hosted by Boris Karloff, who also stars as a Russian vampire in its segment, "The Wurdalak." "The Telephone," and "The Drop of Water," in which a nurse, Helen Correy (Jacqueline Pierreux), steals a ring then fears that her dead medium patient seeks revenge, are acute studies of guilt and paranoia. The Viking saga, Knives of the Avenger (1966), like Bava's Hercules in the Haunted World, spawned several sword and sorcery films, while protagonist Rurik's (Cameron Mitchell's) knife-throwing is indeed entertaining. Screened back to back, these films provide evidence of Bava's influence in the horror genre. Moreover, they reveal Bava's deep understanding of horror's many facets, whether sexually, psychologically, or physically based. Trinie Dalton
Demons
by Lamberto Bava
from Ascot Films
Dario Argento and Lamberto Bava co-wrote this horror film a huge European hit upon release. The film centers on two young girls who go to a brutal zombie movie and begin to notice happenings in theater mirroring the action on screen. Soon half of the audience have been turned into blood thirsty zombies forcing the remaining patrons to defend themselves from the unholy beasts. Stylish gory bleakly funny and reminiscent of George A. Romero's films DEMONS is a hugely entertaining horror movie. Argento also produced and Bava son of the legendary Mario Bava (BLACK SUNDAY) directed.System Requirements:Running Time: 88 mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 013131486995 Manufacturer No: DV14869
Lamberto Bava, son of the Italian horror legend and giallo godfather Mario Bava, teamed up with modern master Dario Argento (cowriter and producer) for this slick gorefest, a triumph of style and special effects over movie logic. Set in a refurbished German movie palace, our hapless soon-to-be victims arrive for a sneak preview of a horror movie only to see the gore unfold in the audience, as well as onscreen. While the exposition remains murky, one patron finds that an infected cut leads to a gooey transformation, and every one of her victims follows suit until the snaggle-toothed monsters outnumber the humans. The survivors, trapped in the tomb of a theater, must fend off attacks Ă la George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Borrowing liberally from films such as Dawn of the Dead and The Tingler, Demons also anticipates Scream in its cinema-savvy references, not to mention its undeniably Neve Campbell-ish heroine. The blaring heavy-metal-hard-rock soundtrack and the carnival horror-house atmosphere helps remind us that this is all just stupid fun. Despite the overwhelming body count, excessive gore, and rivers of green demon pus, the cartoonishly grotesque killings avoid the sadistic edge of many Italian horror films. By the climax of the film the premise is long forgotten in a ghoul apocalypse, but who's watching this for the story anyway? --Sean Axmaker
Suspect
by Peter Yates
from Sony Pictures
No matter the cost no matter the danger. They will find the truth. A Supreme Court Justice takes his own life. A woman is found dead the victim of a grisly murder. A homeless Vietnam vet stands accused. Kathleen Riley (Cher) is an overworked Washington D.C. public defender who needs a vacation. Instead she is assigned another case. But this is no ordinary crime with no ordinary criminal. Lobbyist Eddie Sanger (Dennis Quaid) gets saddled with jury duty just when a critical bill is coming up for vote. While on jury duty Eddie discovers evidence critical to Kathleen's case and contacts her outside the courtroom - a violation of the law. Bizarre evidence leads Kathleen on a dangerous trail from Washington's seamy underbelly to the highest levels of government. And the closer she gets to the answers the more her life is in danger. Cher and Dennis Quaid take the law into their own hands in the daring suspense thriller where everything is revealed in court... except the truth.System Requirements:Running Time: 121 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 043396058576
Suspect is an endearingly silly suspense movie with an excellent cast. Cher stars as Washington, D.C., public defender Kathleen Riley, who is beginning to question the meaning of her career. (Before you prejudge, she's perfectly believable as a lawyer. It's the overtly Irish moniker she can't quite pull off.) A murder victim is found in the Potomac, a mute homeless man (Liam Neeson) stands accused, and Riley gets the case. Can it be that the homeless guy is innocent? Can it be that this whole thing just might go right to the top? I don't want to spoil it for you, but I think you know which way the smart money is betting. Luckily Dennis Quaid is on the scene, playing that rarest of creatures, the heroic congressional lobbyist. Suspect has a refreshingly cheerful disregard for courtroom procedure, the rules of evidence (apparently it's OK to root around crime scenes and pick stuff up), and you could fit the Capitol dome itself through some of the holes in the plot. But once you're comfortable with the fact that you're in a world where special movie laws apply, it's a very enjoyable flick. Watch it in good health and remember: if you're going to question a highly dangerous homeless man in a terrible neighborhood, for heaven's sake do it alone in the dead of night. --Ali Davis
F/X
by Robert Mandel
from MGM (Video & DVD)
"F/X" is Hollywood-speak for "special effects," those often-bloody tricks that fool us into believing a gun has been fired or a head has been blown off. Bryan Brown plays a freelance effects wizard who arrives for each job fully equipped in a customized truck, making it easy for him to roll from one gig into the next. Accepting a hefty chunk of change for one such job, Brown stages the death of a gangster for the Witness Protection Program. At least, that is what he is led to believe. Illusion, it turns out, is everything. Not knowing whom to trust or what to think, Brown soon finds himself playing a vicious game of cat and mouse with the bad guys. What gives this an added thrill is that Brown is not sure exactly who is the villain in his own personal mystery movie. It could be the gangster (Jerry Orbach), the government agents, or the police officer (Brian Dennehy) with whom he joins forces. Evenly paced and surprisingly cunning, this is will leave you guessing until the last squib has been fired. Brown and Dennehy were reunited less successfully in the 1991 sequel, F/X2. --Rochelle O'Gorman
In this riveting, high-energy suspense thriller, special effects wizard Rollie Tyler (Brian Brown) is enlisted by the Justice Department to stage what will be the most elaborate assignment of his lifetime--if it doesn't kill him first!
Erik the Conqueror
by Mario Bava
from ANCHOR BAY
Blonde giants thirsty for blood and eager for conquest! In the long-unseen classic from legendary director/cinematographer Mario Bava Viking hordes invade Britain in an orgy of violence vengeance and virgins. Cameron Mitchell (KNIVES OF THE AVENGER) stars with Andrea Checchi (BLACK SUNDAY) George Ardisson (HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD) and the luscious Kesslar Twins in this epic of ferocious color and design bursting with more chained maidens and shocking violence than any other Viking movie of the era. ERIK THE CONQUEROR also known as FURY OF THE VIKINGS and THE INVADERS has been fully restored from original European vault materials and is now presented uncut and uncensored for the first time ever on DVD. System Requirements:Running Time: 90 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR UPC: 013131486698 Manufacturer No: DV14866
+++



