This week’s release schedule is sans any big studio flicks, but there are plenty of old school choices and indie flicks to whet your horror appetite. The underground zombie flick from Chemical Burn, Defiled, has received plenty of buzz as a worthy tribute to horror’s days of old. The Italian Alien knock-off, Alien 2 On Earth gets the Blu-ray treatment (only God knows why), and there’s a zombie documentary exploring why America is obsessed with hot zombie chicks that features some big name interviewees. Check out the rest of the releases below and have a nice week.
Horror In Your House
March 21, 2011

ALIEN 2 ON EARTH (Blu-ray/DVD) – Midnight Legacy

Uncut, English language, 1.85 widescreen release of the 1980 Italian Horror/Sci-Fi film directed by Ciro Ippolito (Sam Cromwell). Starring Belinda Mayne, Mark Bodin, Roberto Barrese, Michele Soavi and Judy Perrin. A group of cave explorers are confronted in an underground cavern by a mysterious living rock. Little do they know that it bears home to deadly, flesh-eating creatures, intent on wiping out the entire human population. Can they survive and ultimately prevent Earth’s total annihilation? Never released in the United States, only a handful of countries saw a cropped and edited VHS release nearly thirty years ago, that is until now. For our inaugural release, Midnight Legacy is proud to present the first-ever widescreen release of Alien 2 On Earth. The definitive version, transferred from the original 35mm negative, which runs longer than any other version seen throughout the world. The presentation that finally represents the intended vision of Alien 2 On Earth.

MICAH SAYS: Italian rip-off of Ridley Scott’s original ALIEN flick. It’s full of stock footage and terrible acting which is a nice compliment to the nonsensical plot. The fact that this film received the Blu-ray treatment is relatively insane. Still, I’ll probably upgrade my VHS copy.

THE BAT – Synergy Entertainment

This DVDTee includes both a DVD of the 1959 film, The Bat, and a tee shirt featuring the chilling original poster art. A town is being terrorized by a murderer known only as the bat in this creepy horror tale. Agnes Moorehead stars as a mystery author moving into a remote mansion that s haunting is the result of some ugly past occurrences in the house. Now, a murderer known only as The Bat is terrorizing the town and Vincent Price is the suspicious doctor who just happens to an expert on bats! Meanwhile, watch for former Little Rascals star, Darla Hood, appearing in her first (and last!) ever film role as an adult!

DARK FIELDS – Entertainment One

When a drought-stricken farming community resorts to child sacrifice to bring healing rains to their land, a terrible curse is unleashed, which haunts their bloodlines for generations. Starring David Carradine, Dee Wallace Stone and Ellen Sandweiss.

THE DEFILED – Chemical Burn Entertainment

In a post-apocalyptic world, science and technology have backfired leaving unfathomable destruction and a permanently diseased planet in its wake. A virus is mutating the human race, turning innocent survivors into mindless cannibals. In a savage future world devoid of hope, a man infected with the deadly viral disease must cope with the burden of a new born son, ensuring his survival. Though he is infected, he does not allow his growing desire for human flesh to overcome his responsibility to the newborn. Along the road, traveling from town to town, he saves an unaffected woman from a certain death by facing down her perpetrators. Ultimately, she joins him on his odyssey, a journey through hell on earth in search of a safe haven in which they can perhaps start a life together, both becoming committed to doing whatever it takes to make sure the child survives. Reminiscent of the work of Lynch, Maddin and Tarkovsky, The Defiled is a black and white epic of unparalleled artistry examining life, death and the ultimate sacrifice of love. Not since Carnival of Souls and Night of the Living Dead has a film captured the surreal outer dimensions of the human condition.

MICAH SAYS: A micro-budget indie that is supposedly pretty damn good. I have this one on my radar and hope to check it out pretty soon. Director Julian Grant said he tried to make a film that “was a love letter to old-school horror.” And he goes on to say it’s a “tribute to Romero, Jodorowsky and Lynch.” This is my pick of the week.

CREEP CREEPERSIN’S FRANKENTSTEIN – Creepersin Films

Victor is socially awkward. He spends all of his time watching old movies on TV with his best friend, his rat that he named Frankenstein. Victor becomes so detached that he can’t tell real life from the old movies that he watches. He begins to receive transmissions from the TV and then is haunted by his dead mother before he realizes that if he can’t make friends, he would just “make” one. Things are great until even his own creation thinks that he is a poor excuse for a man.

FOUR MOVIE MARATHON: CULT HORROR COLLECTION – Universal Studios
Includes: THE FUNHOUSe, PHANTSASM II, THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, and SSSSSSS.

MICAH SAYS: Cheap way to get Tobe Hooper’s classic FUNHOUSE flick along with a couple other worthy films including Wes Craven’s THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW.

THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK – Rarovideo

Mimsy Farmer portrays Sylvia, a chemist who begins to suffer from strange visions. She sees a mysterious woman in black applying perfume in a mirror, strangers following her everywhere she goes, and a ghostly little girl reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, who may be Sylvia herself as a child. It turns out that Sylvia stabbed her mother’s sexually abusive boyfriend to death long ago, and now her visions are driving her to madness and cleaver-murders. The other possibility, however, is that literally all of Sylvia’s friends are Satanists conspiring to cause her suicide. This is a remarkable film, weaving reality, fantasy and memory into an almost seamless fabric to dizzying and poetic effect.

SIREN – Lionsgate

A group of friends escaping the city have a simple plan: to tour the coast for a relaxing weekend. Things hit a snag when one of them spots a seductive, sultry young woman waving for help off the shore of one of the many secluded islands along the coast. Reaching out to rescue her turns deadly, and they risk everything to get off the island alive.
MICAH SAYS: Looks like the kinda flick that will get a lot of rentals based on the DVD cover (which is super-hot chick holding a large bloody knife). But I’m passing because the trailer bored me.

THE WALKING DEAD GIRLS – IMDFilms

The Walking Dead Girls is a behind-the-scenes look into zombie culture in the United States and the obsession into “Sexy Female Zombies”. What is it about Zombie Bimbos or “Zimbies” that are starting to gain the worlds interest? Why are zombies now in mainstream culture and seen in advertising from JCPenny and Sears? With interviews with zombie master maker George Romero and cult movie star Bruce Campbell from ZomBcon 2010 and so much more. Also with a rare look into the making of a Zombie Pinup Calendar, behind the scenes of “Stripperland” and “Clublife” Daniel Baldwin’s hip hop Zombie music video debut. “”The Walking Dead Girls”” is a sexy look into the zombie phenomenon created by George Romero that is 40 years in the making.