Pretty light week, especially with the overseas releases. Scream Factory with two really strong titles this week in Ghost Story and Blood and Lace. I think the release I’m really thrilled about this week however, is A Christmas Horror Story. I haven’t seen it yet, but I do love me some Christmas horror!

US Releases

Ghost Story (Scream Factory)

Synopsis:
When his brother David dies on the eve of his wedding, Don travels back to his hometown in New England for the funeral services. He meets his grieving father Edward Charles Wanderley, who has a weekly meeting with his old friends Ricky Hawthorne, Dr. John Jaffrey and Sears James to tell tales of horror, and together they form The Chowder Society. When Edward and John die in mysterious circumstances, Don sees the picture of Eva Galli from the 20’s and he joins Rick and Sears to tell a ghost story about his romance with Alma Mobley…

Blood and Lace (Scream Factory)

Synopsis:
After her prostitute mother and her john are beaten to death while they are asleep in bed, teen-aged Ellie Masters is sent to an isolated orphanage run by Mrs. Deere and her handyman. Taking an avid interest in her welfare is detective Calvin Carruthers. Taking almost no interest at all, is social worker Harold Mullins who is completely under Mrs. Deere’s thumb. Lots of unpleasant surprises are in store for Ellie, not the least of which is the fact that Mrs. Deere and her handyman are both brutal sadists, who run the orphanage like a concentration camp and the strong possibility that her mother’s hammer-wielding killer is now stalking her.

A Christmas Horror Story (Image Entertainment)

Synopsis:
Interwoven stories occur on Christmas Eve, as a festive radio host attempts to spread cheer. A family brings home more than a Christmas tree; a student documentary becomes a living nightmare; a family’s Christmas outing to a wealthy relative awakens a vicious spirit; and Santa fights evil.

The Mask 3D (Kino Lorber)

Synopsis:
A young archaeologist believes he is cursed by a mask that causes him to have weird nightmares and possibly to murder. Before committing suicide, he mails the mask to his psychiatrist, Dr. Barnes, who is soon plunged into the nightmare world of the mask.

Wake Up and Kill (Arrow)

Synopsis:
During the 1960s Luciano Lutring committed more than one hundred armed robberies in Italy and on the French Riviera. To the media he was the ‘machine gun soloist’, a name he’d earned as he kept his weapon in a violin case. To the public he was a romantic figure, one who only targeted the wealthy, stealing more than 35 billion lire during his criminal career.

The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (Kino Lorber)

Synopsis:
The successful transplant of the head of a sadistic murderer to the body of a mentally challenged farmhand creates a two-headed monster which escapes and leaves behind a trail of death and terror.

Voodoo Man (Olive Films)

Synopsis:
Dr. Richard Marlowe uses a combination of voodoo rite and hypnotic suggestion to attempt to revivify his beautiful, but long-dead wife, by transferring the life essences of several hapless young girls he has kidnapped and imprisoned in the dungeon beneath his mansion.

The Badger Game (Intervision Picture Corp)

Synopsis:
A chronic philanderer falls victim to an extortion scheme when he is abducted by four masked strangers demanding retribution for his sins.

Queen of Blood (Intervision Picture Corp)

Synopsis:
Vampire Irina is reborn as a “vampiric” plague, a force of nature whose destiny is to lay waste to a fever dream vision of the Wild West.

UK Releases

Robinson Crusoe on Mars (Eureka Entertainment)

Synopsis:
An entertaining interpretation of the classic Defoe story, using an astronaut and his monkey, US astronaut Commander “Kit” Draper must fight for survival when his spaceship crash-lands on the barren waste of Mars, with a pet monkey his only companion. But is he actually alone?

Wake Up and Kill (Arrow)

Synopsis:
During the 1960s Luciano Lutring committed more than one hundred armed robberies in Italy and on the French Riviera. To the media he was the ‘machine gun soloist’, a name he’d earned as he kept his weapon in a violin case. To the public he was a romantic figure, one who only targeted the wealthy, stealing more than 35 billion lire during his criminal career.

Nosferatu (BFI Video)

Synopsis:
In this first-ever screen adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a simple real-estate transaction leads an intrepid businessman deep into the superstitious heart of Transylvania. There he encounters the otherworldly Count Orlok — portrayed by the legendary Max Schreck — who soon after embarks upon a cross-continental voyage to take up residence in a distant new land…

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Wake Up and Kill

During the 1960s Luciano Lutring committed more than one hundred armed robberies in Italy and on the French Riviera. To the media he was the ‘machine gun soloist’, a name he’d earned as he kept his weapon in a violin case. To the public he was a romantic figure, one who only targeted the wealthy, stealing more than 35 billion lire during his criminal career.

Wake Up and Kill was the logical extension of such fame. It became the first feature to commit Lutring’s story to celluloid, shooting having begun mere months after his eventual arrest. Capitalizing on the breakthrough success of his performance in French television’s The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Robert Hoffmann is perfect as Lutring, bringing just the right amount of charisma and youthful exuberance to his first major big screen role.

Directed by Carlo Lizzani (Requiescant), scored by Ennio Morricone, penned by the future screenwriter of Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion, and featuring that film’s star, Gian Maria Volonté, in a key supporting role, Wake Up and Kill’s true-crime thrills serve as an enthralling dry run for the poliziotteschi movies that would follow a few years later.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
* Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
* High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray and Standard Definition DVD presentations of two versions of the film: the original full-length Italian release, and the shortened English-language cut
* Italian and English soundtracks in uncompressed PCM mono sound on the respective versions of the film
* Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian version
* Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English cut
* Theatrical trailer
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Reinhard Kleist
* Illustrated collector’s booklet containing new writing on the film by Robert Curti, author of Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980

Format: BLU-RAY + DVD
Street Date: 11/24/15
Run Time: 124 mins
Number of Discs: 2
Year of Production: 1966
Director: Carlo Lizzani
Actors: Robert Hoffman, Lisa Gastoni, Gian Maria Volonté
Territory: US
Language: English/Italian

What Have You Done to Solange?

From director Massimo Dallamano, cinematographer on both A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More, comes giallo classic What Have You Done to Solange?, the debut feature of actress Camille Keaton (I Spit on Your Grave). A sexually sadistic killer is preying on the girls of St. Mary’s school. Student Elizabeth witnessed one of the murders, but her hazy recollections of a knife-wielding figure in black do nothing to further the police’s investigations. Why is the killer choosing these young women? And what does it have to do with a girl named Solange? Also starring Cristina Galbo (Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue) and Fabio Testi (I Spit On Your Grave), What Have You Done with Solange? features all the hallmarks of classic gialli – the amateur detective, the black-gloved killer – as well as a lush score from Ennio Morricone.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:
* Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
* High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
* Original Italian and English soundtracks in mono audio
* Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
* Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
* Brand new audio commentary with critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman
* What Have You Done to Decency? A conversation with Karin Baal – the actress shares her thoughts on Dallamano’s classic giallo in this brand new interview
* First Action Hero – a newly-edited 2006 interview with actor and former stuntman Fabio Testi, including a look at his role in Solange
* Old-School Producer – a newly-edited 2006 interview with producer Fulvio Lucisano
* Innocence Lost: Solange and the “Schoolgirls in Peril” Trilogy – a brand new visual essay by Michael Mackenzie, exploring the themes of Solange and its two semi-sequels
* Original theatrical trailer
* Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Malleus
* Collector’s booklet featuring a new article on the giallo scores of Ennio Morricone by Howard Hughes, alongside a Camille Keaton career retrospective from Art Ettinger, comprising interview excerpts with the Solange actress, all illustrated with original archive stills and posters

Format: BLU-RAY + DVD
Street Date: 12/15/15
Run Time: 107 mins
Number of Discs: 2
Year of Production: 1975
Director: Massimo Dallamano
Actors: Fabio Testi, Cristina Galbó, Camille Keaton
Territory: US
Language: English/Italian

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