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Horror In Your House: January 24th, 2012
After a slow start to January things have heated up with the release of the low-budget blockbuster (is that even a thing?) Paranormal Activity 3. Never one to be left out, the most famous monster of all, Godzilla, is back after hanging out with the folks at Criterion. Making waves today as well is the controversial Lucky McKee / Jack Ketchum collaboration The Woman. Ah, it feels good to have a solid week of choices for a change. Check out the rest of the releases below and let me know what you’re picking up this week. Horror In Your House
January 24th, 2012
FASCINATION (DVD/Blu-Ray) – Redemption Films
The masterpiece of renowned French filmmaker Jean Rollin, FASCINATION follows a swaggering thief who hides out in a lavish chateau, holding the occupants at gunpoint. When night falls, he realizes that these two maids are not only deadlier than he imagined, but are gatekeepers to a ring of women with a thirst for blood.
MICAH SAYS: If you have Netflix Instant you’ve probably seen the Jean Rollins films pop up in your recommendations. If you like lesbians, vampires, lesbian vampires and / or gratuitous soft core foreign horror porn then you should consider his films a must. I’d recommend starting with Lips of Blood(released today as well) or The Nude Vampire to whet your whistle.
GODZILLA(Blu-Ray) – The Criterion Collection
Godzilla (a.k.a. Gojira) is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning almost thirty sequels. A thrilling, tactile spectacle that continues to be a cult phenomenon, the original, 1954 Japanese version is presented here, along with Godzilla, King of the Monsters, the 1956 “Americanized” version. New high-definition digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition.
MICAH SAYS: Criterion is definitely the biggest drain on my wallet. Everything they release is meticulously restored and detailed. I like to think of them as the anti Echo Bridge. This Blu-ray should be considered the ultimate and definitive version going forward when it comes to Japan’s most reptilian export.
HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW (Remastered special 2 disc edition) – Scorpion Entertainment
Flirtatious young sorority sisters who are days away from graduation set out to throw one last decadent celebration. Unbeknownst to them, the strict matron of their house hides a horrendous secret thought long buried. A gruesome accident is witnessed by a hideous fiend, hidden within the once nurturing dwelling, which triggers a rampage of death and destruction. Before the end, the peril faced by this sisterhood will push them to the brink of annihilation. And rivers of blood will drown all who enter…The House On Sorority Row. Now watch this horror classic from a brand new HD master, with 2 disc worth of extras, featuring Katarina Leigh Waters.
MICAH SAYS: Five new interviews, brand new commentary with the director and finally in it’s original 1.78 (16×9) format. This appears to be one of the finer releases to come out of the Katarina’s Nightmare Theater group. Hope they keep this up and also start working on Blu-Rays.
THE IRON ROSE (DVD/Blu-Ray) – Redemption Films
A pair of lovers have a tryst in a vacant tomb, but then find themselves unable to escape form the graves and crypts of the massive cemetery. One of cult director Jean Rollin’s most unconventional films, THE IRON ROSE vividly depicts the young couple’s steady descent into madness.
LIPS OF BLOOD (DVD/Blu-Ray) – Redemption Films
In the most personal of Jean Rollin’s moody, erotic horror films, a man tries to solve the riddle of a vague childhood memory, which leads him in pursuit of a beautiful vampire, and the revelation of a horrible family curse.
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 (DVD/Blu-Ray) – Paramount Pictures
Paranormal Activity 3 takes you back to where it all began and the activity is more intense than ever. The cameras are on and recording the chilling moments when evil begins to terrorize young sisters Katie and Kristi for the first time.
MICAH SAYS: The polarizing series’ third film isn’t the best of the bunch, but it still packs plenty of scares (albeit jump scares) that rival anything else in horror last year. If you thought this was bad, watch The Devil Inside to get an idea of what a truly awful “found footage” experience feels like. It cracked my Top Ten Horror films of last year and I’ve already got my copy on blu. I happen to quite enjoy this franchise.
PORN STAR ZOMBIES – R Squared Films
A group of adult film cast and crew members must discover what is causing their fellow stars to rabidly attack them.
THE WOMAN (DVD/Blu-Ray) – Bloody Disgusting Selects / The Collective
The Woman is the last surviving member of a violent clan that has roamed the Northeast Coast for decades. When the last of her family is killed in a battle with the police, The Woman finds herself alone, severely wounded…and vulnerable. Unfortunately, she is now a far too easy prey for local hunter, successful country lawyer and seriously disturbed family man Christopher Cleek. With his twisted set of ideals, Cleek decides to embark upon a deranged project – to capture her and “civilize” The Woman – a decision that will soon threaten the lives of Cleek, his family and The Woman.
MICAH SAYS: PICK OF THE WEEK. It’s brutal, haunting, unsettling and will stick with you long after it’s over. Lucky McKee’s flick is by no means perfect. Some would say it’s highly misogynistic. And they’d be right. I think the hype machine may have over-cooked this one a bit, but now that the dust has settled and I’ve had time to reflect I’ve come to consider this flick as one of the best of it’s kind.
Scream Factory brought Frank LaLoggia’s 1988 Halloween movie Lady in White to Blu-ray several years back, and now Vinegar Syndrome gives the film a 4K Ultra HD upgrade.
Vinegar Syndrome’s Lady in White 4K release is available now and shipping now!
Watch the trailer below and grab your copy from Vinegar Syndrome today.
This limited edition 4-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray x 3 set comes with a spot gloss hard slipcase + slipcover combo (designed by Dylan Haley), includes a 40-page perfect bound book and is limited to 8,000 units. It is only available on their website and at select indie retailers.
The full Special Features package includes…
- 4-disc Set: 1x 4K Ultra HD (High Bitrate BD100) / 3x Region A Blu-ray
- 4K UHD presented in Dolby Vision High-Dynamic-Range
- Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
- Presented in three versions: 126-min Pre-Release Director’s Cut (UHD+BD), the 118-min Extended Home Video Cut (BD), and the 113-min Theatrical Cut (BD)
- New group commentary track with writer/director Frank LaLoggia, alongside actors Lukas Haas, Joelle Jacobi, and Len Cariou for the Pre-Release Director’s Cut
- New commentary track with Frank LaLoggia, moderated by Scott Neumyer for the Extended Home Video Cut
- New commentary track with authors Emma Westwood and Stephen A. Russell for the Extended Home Video Cut
- Archival commentary track with Frank LaLoggia for the Extended Home Video Cut
- “Learning How to Fly” (10 min) – an interview with actress Karen Powell
- “A Snapshot in Time” (9 min) – an interview with actress Lisa Taylor
- “Human Touches” (6 min) – an interview with actress Lucy Lee Flippin
- “Still Relevant” (16 min) – an interview with actress Rose Weaver
- “75% Listening, 25% Editing” (9 min) – an interview with editor Steve Mann
- “Welcome to Willowpoint Falls” (6 min) – a location featurette hosted by Benjamin Scrivens, founder of Fright-Rags
- “Dream Talking: Looking Back” – a visual group commentary for the Pre-Release Director’s Cut with Frank LaLoggia, and actors Lukas Haas, Joelle Jacobi, and Len Cariou (103 min)
- Deleted Scenes with introduction and optional commentary by writer/director Frank LaLoggia (36 min)
- Behind-the-scenes footage with introduction and optional commentary by writer/director Frank LaLoggia (16 min)
- Extended behind-the-scenes footage (73 min)
- Introduction from the 20th anniversary dvd release
- Promotional ‘industry sales’ trailer (7 min)
- 40-page perfect bound book with essays by film historians Molly Henery, Mark H. Harris, and Heidi Honeycutt (limited edition only)
- Multiple radio spots
- Theatrical trailer
- Multiple TV spots
- Workprint trailers (7 min)
- Still gallery
- Reversible sleeve artwork
- English SDH subtitles
1962. Nine-year-old Frankie Scarlatti enjoys a homespun childhood in a rustic Western New York town. The entire community gets into the spirit of Halloween, but then two bullies prank Frankie by locking him in his school cloakroom, leaving him trapped for the night. Alone and afraid, his slumber is interrupted when the ghost of a little girl appears, and Frankie witnesses the specter of her murder by an unseen assailant. Later, while recovering at home, the girl’s ghost appears to him again. With help from his older brother, Frankie begins investigating the circumstances of her death. He soon discovers that her murder was one of several unsolved crimes connected to a local child-killer. As the town’s bucolic veneer fades and long-buried secrets and tensions bubble to the surface, all of the clues to the mystery seem to point towards a huge mansion inhabited by a reclusive woman known as “The Lady in White.”
A nostalgia-driven ghost story wrapped within an intricate murder mystery and coming-of-age drama, writer-director-composer Frank LaLoggia’s passion project Lady in White remains one of the most beautiful and original American horror films of the 1980s. Featuring acclaimed actors Alex Rocco (The Godfather), Len Cariou (Executive Decision), and Sydney Lassick (Carrie, The Unseen), it boasts the first starring role by Lukas Haas (Mars Attacks, Inception) as well as breathtaking photography by Academy Award® winner Russell Carpenter (True Lies, The Lawnmower Man). Vinegar Syndrome is honored to bring this genre masterpiece to 4K UHD, newly restored from its original 35mm camera negative and presented in three versions: its pre-release director’s cut, its extended home-video version, and its original theatrical version, along with an abundance of both new and archival extras.
Paul Lê wrote here on Bloody Disgusting back in 2023, “Over the years, fans have described this film as gateway horror, but they liken it more to The Watcher in the Woods than, say, Hocus Pocus or Casper. There are chilling moments that warrant its PG-13 rating.”
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