The last release week of October is upon us. The Alien Anthology Blu-ray collection from Fox leads the way in what has been a great month for horror collectors. The highly anticipated Lovecraftian thriller Altitude finally makes a landing. Classic films are also well represented with the 30th anniversary edition of Maniac and a Criterion release of the insane Hausu. Another solid week in the wide world of home video horror. Check out the rest of the releases below. Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!
Horror In Your House
October 25th, 2010

ALIEN ANTHOLOGY (Blu-Ray) – Fox Home Entertainment

Brace yourself for a whole new breed of Blu-ray: Four powerful films…eight thrilling versions…in dazzling, terrifying, high-def clarity with the purest digital sound on the planet. Two bonus dics and over 65 hours of archival and never-before-seen content, including the totally immersive MU-TH-UR mode feature, makes this definitive Alien collection!

MICAH SAYS: Rumor has it Best Buy released this box set last week, but if you are looking for something a little more special, you can order directly from FoxConnect.com and pick up the limited edition egg packaging version of which there will only be 5,000 copies sold.

ALTITUDE (Blu-Ray/DVD) – Anchor Bay

Lost in a mysterious cloudbank, a rookie pilot and her four teenage friends must contend with a freak mechanical failure that first sends their small plane climbing to an impossible height, and then plummeting through endless mist. After regaining control, the survivors are confronted with a horrifying realization – the very ground beneath them has vanished and a malevolent force lurking in the clouds wants them dead.

THE BISBEE CANNIBAL CLUB – Chemical Burn Entertainment

Vegetarians are disappearing from the little town of Bisbee, AZ. When a group of locals discover that their secret hallucinatory cactus garden has been used as a human barbecue and burial site, the existence of the Bisbee Cannibal Club becomes horrifyingly apparent.

MICAH SAYS: As someone who has been to Bisbee and is somewhat familiar with the sordid history of the town; this movie doesn’t surprise me at all.

A BLOOD PLEDGE (Blu-ray/DVD) – Media Blasters

Strange rumors start to spread through school about Unjoo’s suicide. Unjoo’s younger sister Jung-un who attends the same school gets suspicious about Unjoo’s death. She is determined to find out the truth by questioning Unjoo’s friends Soy, Eugene, and Eun-young who were said to have been, with Unjoo before her death. Was it suicide or something else entirely?

CANNIBAL GIRLS – Shout! Factory

They do EXACTLY what you think they do! Second City TV regulars Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin star in Ivan Reitman’s Canuxploitation classic as a couple on a romantic holiday who settle into a quaint little bed-and-breakfast run by a trio of flesh-eating ladies who fancy them for tomorrow’s menu.

CARRIER – Code Red

Something strange is happening in the small town of Sleepy Rock, but no one can put their finger on it. Sleepy Rock was a place you might find in a fairy tale until one day, the nightmare is unleashed. It dissolves friendships, families, anything else alive. And there’s no stopping it. Once Sleepy Rock was a loving and religious town, now it’s a town out of control. The only solution…Kill! Anyone who could be The Carrier….One touch and you’re gone! Director of Photography by Peter Deming (Evil Dead 2), Music by Joseph Deuca (Evil Dead) and sound mix by actor Bruce Campbell (Army of Darkness).

THE DEAD OUTSIDE – Vanguard Cinema

A neurological pandemic has consumed the population. April, a secretive young girl, and Daniel, a man desperate and bereaved, come together on an isolated farm. When a mysterious stranger turns up, they are confronted with a new enemy even deadlier than the one beyond the perimeter.

DEMON HAUNT – Alpha Video

Legions of evil demons from the fiery depths of Hell haunt the newly-acquired home of a beautiful widow and her handicapped sister, wreaking terror and bloodshed on any who dare enter. Paranormal expert Raymond LeCleur agrees to do battle with the demonic hordes. Joining forces with his estranged father, he enters into a deadly combat with Satan’s minions – one that will leave LeCleur desperately fighting for his own survival.

EYES OF THE CHAMELEON – Troma

Sara is stuck in Las Vegas working a dead end bartending job. A chance meeting with a member of the occult triggers a psychotic break and she descends into a world of group sex, unrepentant drug use and rampant violence. As she spins faster and faster out of control, her friends are slowly killed off in mysterious and brutal ways. Is Sara being stalked by an unnamed killer or is she the one guilty of the murders?

HOUSE (Criterion Collection) (Blu-ray/DVD) – Criterion Collection

How to describe Nobuhiko Obayahshi’s 1977 movie Hausu? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby Doo as directed by Dario Argento? Any of the above will do for this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home, only to come face to face with evil spirits, bloodthirsty pianos, and a demonic housecat.

MICAH SAYS: If you aren’t sure about this film, read the BD Blu-ray review.

HUSH – MPI Home Video

Young couple Zakes and Beth (rising UK talent William Ash of Doctor Who and Christine Bottomley of Torchwood and Hope Springs) are fighting constantly while they travel down the desolate M1 highway. After they spot or think they spot a hysterical woman chained in the back of a truck that almost runs them over, Zakes calls the cops and considers his work done. Beth wants to track the truck down and is so angry when Zakes refuses that she storms off at the next pit stop. When Beth doesn t return, Zakes realizes she too has been captured and plunges into a terrifying high-speed cat and mouse game on the highway. Can Zakes cut off the ruthless trucker or will the mysterious maniac manage to deliver his human cargo to its final, terrifying destination? Take one part Steven Spielberg’s classic road rage movie Duel, one part of 80s cult favorite The Hitcher, throw in a sparring couple and you’ve got the wildly clever Hush.

LAKE PLACID 3 – Sony Pictures

Get ready for a living, feeding nightmare when a swarm of gigantic crocodiles terrorizes a secluded country lake. When local wildlife is brutally mauled and campers are reduced to carcasses, biologist Nathan Bickerman (Colin Ferguson) knows a voracious predator is on the loose. So does a feisty female hunting guide (Yancy Butler) out for her next trophy. As the body count rises, the local sheriff tries to keep things quiet and keep the tourists coming. But when the horrifying, hulking truth emerges, can anyone stop these cold-blooded killers before they claim their next victim? Lake Placid 3 is pulse-pounding, adrenaline-pumping, pure horror film fun.

MICAH SAYS: So, the original had Betty White (before it was uber cool to have Betty White in a flick) and this one stars some guy from the SyFy show Eureka.

LYNCH MOB – Virgil Films and Entertainment

The rural town of Lynchburg, Georgia holds a dark secret. A century-old curse has condemned the citizens to a diet of human flesh. Unable to leave the city limits the town folks must lure unsuspecting travelers to their quaint town where they soon become the menu item of choice. Problems arise when the Federal Government releases a street savvy criminal into their community under the witness relocation program.

THE MAFU CAGE – Scorpion Releasing

Academy Award winner Lee Grant stars with Academy Award nominee Carol Kane in this psychological thriller. Cissy (Kane) and Ellen (Grant) are daughters of a deceased African primatologist who kept wild animals in a cage in his living room. Mentally unbalanced, Cissy virtually lives in this exotic ‘Mafu Cage’, crowded with hothouse plants and strange African artifacts. Ellen is obsessed with the caretaking of Cissy and must keep a constant watch on her sister’s unpredictable personality. When Ellen’s co-worker, David, begins making romantic advances towards Ellen, Cissy believes the man poses a threat to the sisters’ relationship. The disturbed Cissy ensnares David in the Mafu Cage and subjects him to a series of horrific and deadly rituals! Scorpion is proud to present The Mafu Cage in its original aspect ratio for the first time!

MANIAC (30th Anniversary Edition) (Blu-ray/DVD) – Blue Underground

Frank Zito is a deeply disturbed man, haunted by the traumas of unspeakable childhood abuse. And when these horrific memories begin to scream inside his mind, Frank prowls the seedy streets of New York City to stalk and slaughter innocent young women. Now Frank has begun a relationship with a beautiful photographer, yet his vile compulsions remain. These are the atrocities of a human monster. This is the story of a Maniac.

MICAH SAYS: Anyone else watch this and expect it to be a lot more brutal and unflinching in the gore department? It’s one where I wish I had been able to stay away from the hype before seeing. Still, though, it’s a must see for horror fans.

MUTANTS – MPI Home Video

In a world devastated by a pandemic virus that turns human beings into primitive and bloodthirsty creatures, Marco and Sonia set off to find a secret base to escape from the “mutants”. When the latter attack them, Marco is contaminated too. Little by little, he undergoes the same changes. Sonia, who is expecting a baby, is then forced to fight her worst enemy, the man she loves.

PSYCHOMANIA – Severin Films

The cult classic known as the greatest British zombie biker movie ever made returns with the ultimate full-throttle restoration: Nicky Henson, Beryl Reid and Oscar winner George Sanders star in this beloved 70s mind-blower about a motorcycle gang who burst from their graves to crush a world of psychedelic hippie pleasures under the wheels of black leather occult mayhem. You’ve got to believe it’s come back: Psychomania from veteran horror director Don Sharp, the blacklisted Hollywood screenwriters of Horror Express, and featuring some of the wildest cycle stunts of the decade has now been restored from the only uncut 35mm print in existence and packed with new Bonus Features produced exclusively for this edition.

RULE OF THREE – Big Screen Entertainment

An obsessed, grief-stricken father searches frantically for his missing daughter as the movie reveals a riveting chain of events. The film takes place in a single, sleazy motel room, but weaves through multiple time periods. His daughter has been missing for weeks and what few clues are there are getting colder with every moment lost. As her father returns to the motel room with a gun, the last place his daughter was seen, an unsigned note is left on his car leaving a clue This fast-paced thriller from award winning author, Eric Shapiro, is a roller-coaster mystery with gut-wrenching tension.

ZOMBIE NIGHTMARE

Before Rock `N’ Roll Nightmare, there was Zombie Nightmare! Adam West joins Tia Carrere, Frank Dietz, and the Legendary Rock Warrior John Mikl “Thor” in this macabre tale of voodoo and violence, terror and suspense, and revenge from beyond the grave!
Tony Washington (Thor) foils a robbery at a local grocery store only to be run over and killed by a group of savage suburban teens. But the horror has only just begun, for in the darkest recesses of Tony’s backyard, a voodoo ceremony takes place which resurrects Tony into a superhuman zombie avenger. One by one, Tony’s ruthless killers are graphically and brutally murdered as the undead Tony takes his gory revenge! The stage is set for a bone-chilling climax as the authorities (Adam West and Frank Dietz) finally come face to face with the dead rising from the grave.

MICAH SAYS: I so love this movie. It’s bad in all the right ways. Also, it made an appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Google for some clips if you need a laugh.