October continues to be good for horror connoisseurs. This week, horror icon Hannibal Lector gets the Blu-Ray treatment in the form of Red Dragon. Other notables include Blu-Ray releases of the third film featuring the Frog brothers, Lost Boys: The Thirst and one of the best killer doll movies ever, Magic starring none other than Anthony Hopkins. Yes, Hopkins fans are undoubtedly doing cartwheels. And for the B-movie lovers out there, The Asylum’s Mega Piranha is swimming to a store near you…in 1080P. Check out the rest of the week’s releases below.
Horror In Your House
October 11th, 2010

BRAIN DEAD – Vicious Circle Films

A mismatched group of people find themselves in a secluded cabin in a small town. They must band together to fight off alien zombie creatures that have a penchant for spraying black goop into their victims brains. Directed by Kevin Tenny (Night of the Demons and Witchboard).

CARNIES – R2 Films LLC

In 1936, during the Great Depression, a traveling sideshow sets up shop to mystify yet another dustbowl town with freaks and illusions. When a sinister force begins taking the carnies’ lives one by one, Detective Ellison (Reggie Bannister) is put on the case.

COFFIN ROCK -MPI Home Video

An Irish drifter, Evan (Sam Parsonson), becomes madly possessive about a lover and a child. Jess (Lisa Chappell) and Rob (Robert Taylor) are a happily married couple beset by only one nagging problem: they are unable to get pregnant. After a drunken fight, Jess wanders off and into the arms of the loner Evan. Evan has other plans and suddenly one night of infidelity produces a stranger at the door and perhaps, even in her belly — that tests not just their marriage but their ability to survive.

CRUCILBLE OF TERROR – Severin Films

His name was Mike Raven, the popular Pirate Radio DJ and known occultist whose spectacularly failed attempt at `70s horror stardom marked one of the most bizarre careers in British movie history. And in his most infamous role of all, Raven stars as an insane sculptor whose obsession with the perfect female form leads to a nightmare of sex, sorcery and slaughter. Melissa Stribling (HORROR OF DRACULA), Ronald Lacey (RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) and Me Me Lay (THE MAN FROM DEEP RIVER) co-star in this still-sordid shocker transferred in startling HD from the only known uncut 35mm print in existence.

DARK LURKING – Cinema Epoch

At Outpost 320, located one mile beneath the earth, the researchers make a critical error and something has now gone terribly wrong. All communications are gone, all means of escape destroyed and an extremely dangerous horde of ancient creatures is on the loose after a doorway to an unspeakable evil has been opened.

THE DIRECTOR’S CUT – Big Bit Ent.

Pain Is Temporary. Film Is Forever. A bloody black comedy set in the harsh Australian outback, The Director’s Cut tells the tale of a tyrannical director attempting to shoot his first feature film on a farm in the middle of nowhere. When people start dying, he has to decide which is more important: his crew or his film.

DOGHOUSE – MPI Home Video

Pitting a minibus full of single men on retreat to help one of their number through a rough divorce against a town full of women driven mad by an airborne toxin that affects only the fairer sex, turning them into violent, bloodthirsty fiends who prey upon their menfolk.

LOST BOYS: THE THIRST (Blu-Ray/DVD) – Warner Home Video

As the lost boys and girls of San Cazador prepare to party under the Blood Moon, an alpha vampire conspires to turn these unsuspecting ravers into an army of undead. The only thing that stands between him and the annihilation of the entire human race is the infamous vampire fighting Frog Brothers. Armed with double-barrel holy water balloon launchers and multi-arrow crossbows, Edgar (Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander) join forces to kick some blood-sucker butt in this latest high-energy, action packed adventure in the Lost Boys franchise.

MAGIC (Blu-Ray) – Dark Sky Films

Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) is Corky, a painfully shy, failed magician who finds overnight success as a ventriloquist. His brash, foul-mouthed dummy, Fats, becomes a huge nightclub hit. With his star on the rise, talent agent Ben Greene (Burgess Meredith) arranges an important shot at national TV. But the pressure of failing the network’s required physical sends Corky into a panic. With Fats in tow, he flees the city to a nearly-deserted resort in the Catskills run by the love of his youth, Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret).
MICAH SAYS: This is my pick of the week. I feel kinda guilty for not already owning it in some form or another. The best killer doll film of all time?

CHARLIE: MY NAME IS EVIL – Lions Gate

Charles Manson’s lust for blood left not only a trail of victims across Los Angeles, but also his minion’s lives shattered. Leslie, a former cheerleader and prom queen, is one such follower of the serial killer. During her murder trial, one of the jury members, Perry, a sheltered chemical engineer, finds himself falling in love with the dangerous woman charged.

MEGA PIRANHA (Blu-Ray) – Platinum Disc

A mutant strain of giant ferocious piranha escape from the Amazon and eat their way toward Florida.

MICAH SAYS: It’s rumored that Paul Logan kicked fish for 2-3 hours a day in preparation for his role in this film.

RED DRAGON (Blu-Ray) -Universal Studios

Retired FBI agent, Will Graham, is called back to duty to stop another serial killer with the help of Hannibal Lector.

MICAH SAYS: Ahh, that damned “Tooth Fairy” killer. I remember being pleasantly surprised by this thriller when I caught it in theaters.

S&MAN (SANDMAN) (Blu-Ray/DVD) – Magnolia Home Entertainment

When cult-favorite horror filmmaker JT Petty ventures into the dark world of underground horror, things don t exactly go as planned. As he examines the comparison between filmmaking and voyeurism within the horror genre, he uncovers a collective of filmmakers, deviants, and self-professed possible murderers. The most notorious underground film series he discovers is called S&MAN, produced by the unassuming and creepy Eric Rost.

SCULPTURE – Camp Motion Pictures

Haunted by dark images from a repressed past, struggling artist Ashley Steele (Raine Brown) returns to her childhood home following the death of her parents. Accepting a commission from a well-known art dealer (Alan Rowe Kelly), she enlists body-builders as models and enthusiastically embarks upon the project. However, her fragile, new-found confidence cannot withstand her brother’s obsessive behavior or her accelerating visions of childhood trauma. As a childhood friend (Misty Mundae) reaches out to help, Ashley spirals down a path of unspeakable horror, mutilation, and murder.