Get excited because this is a pretty awesome edition of Horror In Your House. Arriving this Tuesday to a retailer near you are all sorts of sweet films, such as IFC’s THE LAST WINTER, Anchor Bay’s BRUTAL MASSACRE (review) and most importantly Criterion has released a two-disc edition of the classic 1931 movie VAMPYR (review). Read on for the full release list.

Horror in Your House
July 22, 2008
By: Tex Massacre

THE BOSTON STRANGLER: Weinstein Co./Genius

For years the police thought they had captured and convicted the right man in the infamous Boston Strangler slayings. They were dead wrong. Now the chilling true story of one of the most terrifying serial sex murders in modern history comes to the screen with a gripping force that will leave you breathless.

TEX SAYS: Director Michael Feifer follows up his fairly successfully Richard Speck film by taking a look into the case of Albert DeSalvo.

BRUTAL MASSACRE: Anchor Bay

David Naughton of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON stars as famed horror director Harry Penderecki whose career has been plagued by violent mishaps and critics’ attacks. But when Harry decides to shoot his comeback movie, he’ll do it with a crew that includes a stressed assistant director (Brian O’Halloran of CLERKS), his foul-mouthed production manager (Ellen Sandweiss of THE EVIL DEAD), an oddball cinematographer (Gerry Bednob of THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN), his loyal grip (Ken Foree of DAWN OF THE DEAD) a deranged Vietnam vet (Gunnar Hansen of THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE) and more. There’s gratuitous nudity, graphic gore and malfunctioning toilets, plus appearances by `Ladies Of The Evil Dead’ Betsy Baker and Theresa Tilly and Master Of Horror Mick Garris in this wild `mockumentary’ about a low-budget production that becomes a BRUTAL MASSACRE!

TEX SAYS: Not nearly as laugh out loud funny as you might hope, on a lesser release day, this might have been my Pick of the Week simply because as genre fans you really need to see this film.

THE CAMPUS CORPSE: Media Blasters

Craig Lewis is headed off to college on a track scholarship. Craig is immediately approached by Delta fraternity brothers who are eager to recruit him. Craig and his new friend decide to pledge the fraternity. Their initiation requires them to be stripped dropped off in the mountains and forced to find their way to a remote cabin. When confronted with the death of a brother the frat boys must maintain the illusion that he’s still alive by hiding the body and taking it on a trip to make it look like a skiing accident.

DEATH VALLEY: Allumination

Fed up with their mundane, ordinary lives, four wannabe thrill-seekers get more than they bargained for when they attend a wild rave in the California desert. Josh and his pals are up for some sex, drugs and rock and roll…not necessarily in that order. But these burning sands, it turns out, are home to some of the deadliest creatures known to man The Scorpions, a local biker gang led by sadistic, machete-wielding Dom. Soon, without warning, what began as a spirited road trip devolves into an agonizing battle for survival.

TEX SAYS: Sure you’ve seen this one before, but the cast assembled here make this Grindhouse inspired desert/biker/revenge flick a lot better than it deserves to be.

EVIL BEHIND YOU: Allumination

Lisa Williams and Debra Reynolds were both enjoying evenings out when something went very wrong. Neither girl can recall what has happened as they awake locked in a dark observation room. Debra’s husband, Tony, and Lisa’s boyfriend David both handcuffed to operating tables and there is no explanation. No one will respond to their calls for help and there is no way out of the room. The abducted couples are unwilling victims of a scientific experiment. As the guys recover from the anesthesia, the girls attempt to comfort them. But something strange is happening to them. The men are fighting to maintain their minds. The reasons for their abductions are unknown and they must solve the mystery soon, because their confinement isn’t the biggest problem.

THE LAST WINTER: IFC/Genius

team in Alaska is tormented by an unseen evil. After one crewmember is found dead disorientation slowly claims the sanity of the other team members as each of them succumbs to an unknown fear.

TEX SAYS: This is a good week for cult filmmaker Larry Fessenden–this latest film from the director streets just two days before his episode of FEAR ITSELF hits NBC.

MANEATER SERIES COLLECTION Vol. 1 (BLOOD MONKEY, IN THE SPIDER’S WEB, MANEATER; 3-disc rerelease): Genius

A collection for the true thrill seeker, Maneater Series Collection Volume 1 is now available! Volume 1 is comprised of the first 3 original releases of the Maneater series: In the Spiders Web, Blood Monkey, and Maneater. The collection is jam packed with thrills, including savage apes leaving carnage along the jungle floor of Africa, poisonous spiders feasting on corpses in an Indian jungle, and a predatory 600lb Bengal Tiger roaming the Appalachian Mountains.

TEX SAYS: I love to hate and hate to love these horrendous killer animal films. Feel the same way? Pick up this set.

MASTERS OF HORROR: SEASON 2 BOX SET (11-Discs): Anchor Bay

They are obsessed by the dark. They share an obsession for terror. Now the anthology series that challenged the very limits of cable television delivers a second season of mind-altering fear from 13 visionary directors. Each episode is presented uncut, uncensored and loaded with the award-winning Bonus Features that carved an all-new standard in genre DVDs. They are 13 stunning discs from the foremost filmmakers of fright, entombed in a single Collectors Edition like no other. Feel the evil. Taste the dread. They are the Masters Of Horror.

TEX SAYS: Nothing new to see here, except the killer skull packaging! If you knew this was coming and didn’t buy the individual discs, it’ll save you a ton of cash to pick this puppy up.

PRAY FOR MORNING: Allumination

The plan was to spend one night in the abandoned Royal Crescent Hotel, where in 1985, five students were murdered, their killer never found. What was supposed to be just a night of fun, hunting for the victims’ bloodstained rooms, suddenly changes when they find a severed hand and awake an evil presence within the hotel. Now they are running for their lives, trying to solve a mystery one hundred years old and morning is still very far away.

VAMPYR: Criterion (TEX’S PICK OF THE WEEK)

With Vampyr Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer’s brilliance at achieving mesmerizing atmosphere and austere profoundly unsettling imagery was for once applied to the horror genre. Yet the result-concerning an occult student assailed by various supernatural haunts and local evildoers at an inn outside Paris-is nearly unclassifiable a host of stunning camera and editing tricks and densely layered sounds creating a mood of dreamlike terror. With its roiling fogs ominous scythes and foreboding echoes Vampyr is one of cinema’s great nightmares.

TEX SAYS: Come on horrorhounds! How often do we get a Criterion release? This is the holy grail of obscure vampire films and a masterwork of mood and shadow. Check it out! If you haven’t seen it before…open you mind to the possibility that it will blow you away. I’ve seen it about 10 times and still impresses the hell out of me.