Hey, you know that romantic comedy triple pack you had to bite your tongue and be polite about? There’s a bonanza of upcoming releases you can exchange it for!
Of course, the big news is that Dario Argento’s long, long, long MIA Four Flies On Grey Velvet is finally getting the treatment it deserves from Mya Communication (who appear to be a new incarnation of NoShame USA), which will be released uncut and remastered on 24th February. Mya will also be releasing—-oops! has released (27th December) the Argento produced and co-directed Door Into Darkness, four one-hour TV horrors, as a two-disc set.
Manskirts ahoy! Image Entertainment have announced The HERCULES Collection 
for 31st March, a four disc set that will gather together no less than nine pepla: Hercules, Mole Men Against The Son Of Hercules, Hercules The Avenger, Hercules And The Black Pirate, Hercules And The Captive Women, Hercules, Prisoner Of Evil, Hercules And The Princess Of Troy, Atlas In The Land Of The Cyclops and Giants Of Rome. There is some cause for concern in the comment that “most” of these films will be widescreen (I’ve been after a widescreen print of Hercules And The Captive Women for years, so I’d lay odds that’s one of the ones that isn’t), but you can’t argue with the price: $19.98.
Shriek Show will be issuing a remastered, anamorphic version of Alan Rudolph’s Barn Of The Naked Dead aka Terror Circus, starring AYCYAS! crush Andrew Prine, on 27th January. Meanwhile, El Santo’s good friends at Severin Films have recently acquired the rights to another former Video Nasty, Expose aka House On Straw Hill, starring Udo Kier, Fiona Richmond, and a great deal more of Linda Hayden than you might expect. Severin have also announced that their upcoming release of Nightmare Castle will include a lengthy chat-featurette with Barbara Steele. Still no firm release date for that one 
(“Summer 2009”), although the project seems to be well along the way. Speaking of Barbara, the good news is that new label Midnight Choir is releasing on 24th February a double disc of The Long Hair Of Death with An Angel For Satan; the bad news is that behind Midnight Choir is Johnny Legend, so caveat emptor.
Mondo Macabro, bless ’em, will be releasing The Bollywood Horror Collection Volume 2 on 31st March, serving up two more Ramsay Brothers efforts: Veerana and Purani Haveli. The former is a serious vampire story whose mix of sex and horror got the Ramsays into trouble; the latter is a haunted house story that allows the brothers to dabble in a bit of self-parody. Also early next year, Onar Films will release the Turkish giallo Kadin Dusmani aka Woman Despiser. BUY THESE FILMS, PEOPLE!! These guys need and deserve our support.
First Look probably don’t deserve our support, but… On 27th January, First Look will be releasing Sharks In Venice. If ever a film was sold on its title and poster, this is it; AIP would be proud of this one. (Also note the complete absence of star Stephen Baldwin’s name.) First Look will also be bundling five previous releases into the Shark Attack Pack: Shark Hunter, Dark Waters, Shark Zone, Blue Demon and Hammerhead; the set will be available from 6th January.
(Thank you, Nathan!)
#1 by Baron Scarpia on December 28, 2008 - 5:55 am
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Whenever I hear the words ‘in Venice’, I immediately think of my favourite short story, Death in Venice.
The thought of Gustav von Aschenbach watching the young Tadzio dive into the ocean, only to fall victim to Bruce the Shark, is an incredibly surreal one.
Confession time – I’ve not seen any pepla at all (the shame! the shame!). Obviously I will have to rectify this at the first opportunity.
#2 by Scott David Hamilton on December 28, 2008 - 7:56 am
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There are only two thing wrong with the title “Sharks in Venice.” One, there’s only one shark. (The copy I have has an onscreen title of “Shark in Venice”). Secondly, judging from the pasty complexion and slavic accents of most of the actors, it was actually shot in Romania or Bulgaria.
Door into Darkness has “The Tram,” doesn’t it? I’ve always wanted to see that.
#3 by houseinrlyeh on December 28, 2008 - 8:22 am
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If even half of the films in that Hercules box don’t look like people stepped on them and/or have discernible colors, I’ll be perfectly happy.
Also, I had already given up hope for Bollywood Horror Collection Volume 2, so these are the kind of DVD news that should make anyone’s day.
#4 by Todd on December 28, 2008 - 12:03 pm
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Having just watched the trailer for Kadin Dusmani on Onar’s Kaptan Swing disc, I think I can say with fair certainty that it’s guaranteed a place on Teleport City, due to it continuing that grand tradition of films that feature killers wearing skull masks.
#5 by Mark on December 28, 2008 - 12:23 pm
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Unfortunately “Shark in Venice” and “Door into Darkness” are so bad (resp. mediocre) that you might be better off with a romantic comedy triple pack and 4 Flies is closer to cat o’ nine tails than Bird with the crystal plumage, but the Bolly<wood horror collection sounds intriguing.
#6 by lyzard on December 28, 2008 - 3:52 pm
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Ah, but I like Cat O’ Nine Tails…one of only two Argento films to contain some sort of positive human relationship, besides having the extra attraction of wacky science. Scott, yes, The Tram is Argento’s entry in the set.
Atlas In The Land Of The Cyclops is actually the next cab off my peplum rank. I was just about to buy the cheapie Alpha version, so that’s an unusual piece of good timing.
The quality of a killer shark is, in the overall scheme of things, irrelevant.
#7 by supersonic on December 29, 2008 - 1:03 am
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I just googled Andrew Prine and about the first thing I learned was that back in the seventies he posed nude in a Playgirl competitor called Viva.
#8 by Baron Scarpia on December 29, 2008 - 3:37 am
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Cat O’Nine Tails is my favourite film in Argento’s ‘animal’ trilogy. There, I’ve said it.
#9 by Blake Matthews on December 29, 2008 - 5:30 am
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Question: Considering “Sharks in Venice”, “Snakes on a Plane”, “Grindhouse”, “The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra”, “The Human Beeing”, etc., there seems to be a whole lot of films that are homages to the types of movies that B-movie and Cult movie fans love. Dothese films turn a decent profit on DVD?
#10 by Mark on December 29, 2008 - 10:11 am
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Cat O’Nine Tails always seemd like Argento’s cruelest picture to me – there are some positive human relationships (what’s the other one? Phenomena, Trauma or Deep Red?), but only to set up what might be the most depressing ending in nay of his films (spoilers (obviously): At least I always thought it was strongly implied that Malden’s niece dies in the end and the incest revelations regarding the main love interest are fairly unsettling too).
#11 by Scott David Hamilton on December 29, 2008 - 10:53 am
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The other positive relationship in Argento is in Phenomena, between Donald Pleasence and his laser-guided, razor-weilding helper chimpanzee.
#12 by Baron Scarpia on December 29, 2008 - 12:31 pm
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it was strongly implied that Malden’s niece dies in the end
Well, considering that the murderer never gets a chance to stab her, and that she’s calling out for her uncle with great strength during the final moments, I don’t think that’s implied at all.
#13 by Baron Scarpia on December 29, 2008 - 12:33 pm
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Oops – just to clarify, the killer does announce that he has killed her, but that appears just to be to spite the heroes, since he’s been caught.
#14 by Mark on December 29, 2008 - 3:06 pm
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Might be just my copy, but in the “calling out to her uncle” part it appears (or it’s at least possible) that the voice is only in Malden’s head (strange echo-y effect to it and far too cheerful in a rather inappropriate way), Malden’s character seems more distraught than relieved and we never get to see the girl. Been a long time since I’ve seen the movie, but as I recall, the killer would’ve had plenty of time to kill her after he stabs James Franciscus (another character who might or might not have died).
#15 by lyzard on December 29, 2008 - 3:45 pm
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The ending is certainly left very ambiguous and disturbing, and the film overall is amazingly cruel, but that’s beside the point that I was making, which is that in the middle of a total maelstrom of misery and dysfunction, you have James Franciscus, Karl Malden and Cinzia de Carolis moving towards making themselves into a surrogate family. It’s unexpected and touching, particularly in context.
As it happens, that is exactly the other one I meant. Seriously.
(Actually, my favourite relationship is the one between Donald Pleasence and Jennifer Connolly: I love the way you can see her relax, and her performance improve, over their scenes together; it’s obvious where she was getting her direction from, and it wasn’t from Argento.)
#16 by lyzard on December 29, 2008 - 4:30 pm
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I wouldn’t put Shark(s) In Venice in the same category as the others; but otherwise, you’ve got an interesting spread there of the kinds of tribute films being made, from outright parody to homage. (I don’t know if it answers your question, but I own two out the ones you cite. Guess which??) I enjoy many of these films, but I’m not sure they’re not another manifestation of the unoriginality plague that seems to be afflicting movie-making in general.
#17 by MatthewF on December 30, 2008 - 4:18 am
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I don’t think they do make a profit especially, certainly Grindhouse was chopped up and re-edited as soon as possible. I think that they’re made by people who grew up watching 70s exploitation and now have sufficient power in the industry to reinvent their childhood (I’d chuck ‘Doomsday’ on that list too, the Neil Marshall film). what then happens is that everyone acts surprised when a $70 million dollar remake of a $3 million dollar film doesn’t do blockbuster business. these films were cheap because the audience was small, and only with a very few exceptions did they break out (texas chainsaw, Mad Max II).
#18 by houseinrlyeh on December 30, 2008 - 4:24 am
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I always thought these films make their profits mostly in their DVD incarnations – the Long Tail of film distribution. Especially when tactics like the Grindhouse chop-up let them sell the same film twice. I still doubt that there’s much of a profit in it.
#19 by MatthewF on December 30, 2008 - 10:36 am
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They do make most of their profit on DVD, but hollywood is still very box office focussed when it comes to judging movie success (and just American Box off too, if the Golden Compass had made $300 mill in the US rather than ‘overseas’ you can bet we’d see a sequel to that). Having said that, I’m sure there are some film makers who owe their continuing ability to make films to their DVD market (I’m looking at you Kevin Smith).
#20 by Blake Matthews on December 30, 2008 - 10:50 am
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Although with Kevin Smith, I can’t imagine that his movies, which all seem to make 30 million, cost a whole lot to make.
#21 by Scott David Hamilton on December 30, 2008 - 12:07 pm
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Smith’s most profitable in turns of percentage return was Chasing Amy, which cost $250,000 total and made $2 mil. Clerks cost about $200,000 all told, I think Mallrats was $2.5 mil, and after that most of his movies have been in the $10-15 range, with Zack and Miri costing more for Seth Rogen. So not a whole lot of money, especially if someone like Harvey Weinstein likes you. Sounds, though, like Smith has broken up with the big H, so we’ll see what happens next.
#22 by Scott David Hamilton on December 30, 2008 - 12:09 pm
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For the next buying advice, be sure to mention that the Fleischer Superman cartoons are coming out in a set from WB, with a couple docus.