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"The Horror! The Horror!": Unlikely Blu-Ray Horror-Film Releases (1 Viewer)

Rex Bachmann

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This year seems to be shaping up to be a very, very good one for horror-movie releases on blu-ray disc. And I'm not talking about the latest crappy theatricals or "straight-to-video" losers. Mainly thanks to a handful of small, independent companies (Kino, Twilight Time, Scream/Shout Factory, Olive Films, Blue Underground, et al.) that are ready, willing, and able to specialize in so-called genre entertainment, we collectors are getting a quite nice choice of titles that the so-called "majors" don't feel to be profitable (enough) to distribute on their own.

Vaulted titles, either famous or obscure, like Prince of Darkness(1987) (finally!), The Howling (1981), Lifeforce (1985) (although more (unintended) comedy than horror, in my estimation), The Beast Within (1982), Bava films, such as Black Sabbath (1964) and Baron Blood (1972) (talk about scary fun!), are scheduled to make their appearance in the format.

When even the (mostly silly) Monster Club (1981) and William Castle's bizarre Mr. Sardonicus (1961) are getting releases this year, I figure I can now hope, and ask for, anything, with some reasonable expectation of seeing it come forth.

The season for announcing horror movie releases is not yet done and I'm hoping for a few more gems (and, sometimes, not-such-gems) to show up.


My shortlist:


Pumpkinhead (1988)

Curse of the Werewolf (1961)

The Mothman Prophecies (2002) (Hollywood movies could use more "spooks" like Indred Cold!)

The KEEP (1983) (30 years and counting,Paramount!)

Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires (a.k.a. Terrore nello Spazio) (1965)

The Hitcher (1986)

Silver Bullet (1985)

Eraserhead (1977) (Not a great fan, but it is a "classic" of bizarrerie.)

God Told Me To (1976) (Okay, a "sci-fi" cop thriller, but still . . . .)

City of the Dead (a.k.a. Horror Hotel) (1960)


And I've got a further hankering for a few 50's horror-monster films:


The Neanderthal Man (1953) (So good (and laughable) to contrast the "science" of "Neanderthals" then and now, 60 years later!)

The Werewolf (1956)

The Vampire (a.k.a. Mark of the Vampire) (1958)

Monster on the Campus (1957)

The Hideous Sun Demon (1959)

Atom Age Vampire (a.k.a. Seddok, l'Erede di Satana) (1960)

I Was a Teenage[d!] Werewolf (1957)


Is there more than a bit of "cheese" mixed in with the "hammery"? You bet! But that just goes to show the strength and vibrancy of the format. Great stuff, good stuff, not-so-good stuff, dreck; it all has a place.

There are many more for me (Terror from the Year 5,000 (1958), anyone?) But it would greedy of me to go on and on.

What horror or horror-sci-fi are you looking for that you never thought would make it to blu-ray?
 

WadeM

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One that I just mentioned in another thread, Roger Vadim's 1961 take on the vampire tale Carmilla, "Blood and Roses". It could look so good on blu-ray and has been completely neglected in the DVD/blu-ray era. Unbelievable.

Blood-and-roses-poster.jpg
 
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The Changeling.

HBO owns it. That's the worst thing that can happen to a catalogue title. In the terms of distrubution, of course.
 

Jobla

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Isn't NEANDERTHAL MAN included in one of the two upcoming MOVIES 4 YOU MGM SCI-FI sets from Scream Factory?

TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000 seems to be a rights issue, possibly literary rights.

Here are some titles that I DON'T expect to see released, at least not this year:

BLOOD AND ROSES
HOMICIDAL
PRIVATE PARTS (1972, would make a great Blu-ray)
NIGHT TIDE (1961, it's been canceled twice on Blu-ray without explanation)
BLOOD AND LACE (1971, possible music rights issue)
THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED (1970) rights issues?
DEMENTIA 13 (with the original D-13 Test sequence restored, although it exists in MGM's vault materials)
THE FROZEN DEAD (unless it pops up as a Warner Archive title)
THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1961, no CinemaScope elements seem to have surfaced)

from Universal, I DON'T expect to see:
THE CURUCU, BEAST OF THE AMAZON
DARK INTRUDER
THE NIGHT WALKER
ISLAND OF TERROR
THE UNINVITED
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (remastered, with missing gore restored to the spider sequence)
LET'S KILL UNCLE
and other titles I'm not recalling at this moment)
 

JoeDoakes

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Jobla said:
Isn't NEANDERTHAL MAN included in one of the two upcoming MOVIES 4 YOU MGM SCI-FI sets from Scream Factory?

TERROR FROM THE YEAR 5000 seems to be a rights issue, possibly literary rights.

Here are some titles that I DON'T expect to see released, at least not this year:

BLOOD AND ROSES
HOMICIDAL
PRIVATE PARTS (1972, would make a great Blu-ray)
NIGHT TIDE (1961, it's been canceled twice on Blu-ray without explanation)
BLOOD AND LACE (1971, possible music rights issue)
THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED (1970) rights issues?
DEMENTIA 13 (with the original D-13 Test sequence restored, although it exists in MGM's vault materials)
THE FROZEN DEAD (unless it pops up as a Warner Archive title)
THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1961, no CinemaScope elements seem to have surfaced)

from Universal, I DON'T expect to see:
THE CURUCU, BEAST OF THE AMAZON
DARK INTRUDER
THE NIGHT WALKER
ISLAND OF TERROR
THE UNINVITED
INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN (remastered, with missing gore restored to the spider sequence)
LET'S KILL UNCLE
and other titles I'm not recalling at this moment)
I think that there's a good chance we'll see the Uninvited, perhaps from Criterion following in the footsteps of Island of Lost Souls and Ministry of Fear.
 

JoeDoakes

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I would like to see Warner, perhaps through the WA, come up with a blu of Murder in the Wax Museum.
 

cineMANIAC

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Neanderthal Man is indeed coming from Shout Factory, albeit in one of those economy four-packs on DVD.

I'm thrilled to be getting many of my favorite horror films from the 70's and 80's this year. By December my collection will have swelled to epic proportions, storage space be damned! I'm more of a slasher film fan so I'm hoping to add THE FINAL TERROR, THE PREY and THE MUTILATOR to my library but I'm not holding my breath on any of those. Word on the street is those won't likely see the light of day for various reasons. While I'm happy to upgrade a good chunk of my DVDs to Blu, I really wish more of the MIA stuff would come out. There are literally dozens of films from various defunct labels that have yet to make an appearance. Lionsgate alone controls a third of the MIA titles.
 

TheSteig

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I think anything is possible...I didnt expect The Crater Lake Monster to go bluray, but there it is with Galaxina of all things..
I dont expect anything from Alpha Video to go blu ray
Virgin of Nuremberg and Monster of Venice also not likely...
And Paul Naschy films and Warner Archive titles
 

Bob Furmanek

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What is the "missing gore" from INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN?I saw an original 1957 35mm print several years ago and don't recall anything different in the spider sequence.
 

TheSteig

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Me either...the spider drips blood on Grant Williams , I know of nothing else.
 

Keith Cobby

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I am not really a fan of contemporary horror films, but my top three are:

1. Salem's Lot
2. The Omen
3. Dead and Buried

I don't think Salem's Lot has been released on blu-ray.

The Incredible Shrinking Man would be a purchase for me.
 

Alan Tully

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Yeah, Salem's Lot, a real horror classic (not the remake!), but will Warner scan it into HD & do all the work for a Blu release of a TV movie, they have so many classic films they need to get around to. But you never know, they've just announced the release of In The Mouth Of Madness.

Blu-ray has been slow off the blocks when it comes to horror, but things are improving, starting with that great Universal Horror box last year, & the Vincent Price box from Shout this year. Still waiting for a really good looking Hammer film Blu-ray release.
 

Richard V

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Castle of Blood (1964) Creepy Italian import, still scary to this day. Mix in a little erotica (girl on girl) and one nude scene. Saw it on TV as a kid, of course edited, but left a lasting impression on me to this day.
 

Worth

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Billy Batson said:
Yeah, Salem's Lot, a real horror classic (not the remake!), but will Warner scan it into HD & do all the work for a Blu release of a TV movie, they have so many classic films they need to get around to.
An HD master of Salem's Lot already exists - i believe it's currently available from the Warner Archive streaming service.

And Criterion has Eraserhead now, so I'd expect to see that one in the near future.
 

Bob Furmanek

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There's always hope for something old and obscure.

Kino is releasing my restoration of THE DEVIL BAT on Blu-ray!

Back in the early 1990's, I set out to locate and restore four films from the scratched, worn-out 16mm public domain copies that were making the rounds at the time. They were:

THE DEVIL BAT
SCARED TO DEATH
AFRICA SCREAMS
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK

Naturally, as soon as I released my versions on laser disc, the varous public domain outfits copied them without compensation or credit.

If you've seen a good 35mm transfer of those titles over the past 20 years, it's because of the work I did in tracking down 35mm elements.

Never give up on obscure titles. Anything is possible!
 

Jobla

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Older TV prints of INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN had more gore dropping from the spider onto Grant Williams. It's a quick edit. A fairly recent parallel was the first release of THE CYCLOPS from Warner Archives. That print deleted several seconds of gore from the climactic blinding of the Cyclops. Warner Archives later added the extra seconds back into the film, and reissued their corrected MOD disc of it. I am hoping that Universal might do the same for SHRINKING MAN.
 

Bob Furmanek

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THE CYCLOPS was missing a shot removed from TV versions. The first DVD release was mastered from the TV safe element.

I highly doubt that older TV prints of ISM would have gore shots that were not in the original theatrical release.
I can confirm that what is on DVD is identical to the 1957 theatrical version.
 

JoeDoakes

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Bob Furmanek said:
There's always hope for something old and obscure.

Kino is releasing my restoration of THE DEVIL BAT on Blu-ray!
Thanks again for you efforts. Let's hope that Kino entrusts someone to do the mastering who is better than the group that did White Zombie.
 

Bob Furmanek

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They have and the colorist did not go overboard with noise reduction. They just cleaned some large smudges and cue marks.

It will be very film-like!
 

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