I'm Dreaming of a White Yeti

A highlight of the most recent "snowpocalypse" coverage (for me, at least) was the image of a local prankster wandering the streets of Somerville in a Yeti costume during the storm. You can read The Boston Yeti's Twitter feed here.

I don't know if The Boston Yeti is related to his Massachusetts neighbors, Winterbeast or Sasqua, but he bares more than a passing resemblance to some of our other favorite regional horror cryptids. See below.

Trailer of the Week: NATAS: The Reflection (1983)

This weird western from Arizona is the one and only directing credit for bit player Jack Dunlap. I used to see it on video store shelves pretty frequently back in the VHS days, but it has since dropped off the map. There's another trailer, for the Elvira-hosted edition of the tape on Thriller Video, here.

Regional Flicks on Disc

I've been neglecting the blog for awhile, but hope to get back on track in the new year. Since some of you may have some Christmas money burning a hole in your pocket, I thought I'd start by catching up on some recent and upcoming DVD and blu-ray releases.

Code Red's release strategy and distribution methods have gotten increasingly erratic and confusing over the past couple of years, but for the time being over at the Big Cartel store, you can pick up the loopy, Florida-lensed and incredibly amateurish kung-fu/blaxploitation flick The Guy From Harlem (on a double feature with Force Four). They also a released a (now sold out) three pack of Andy Milligan films on blu-ray that included Bloodthirsty Butchers, The Man with 2 Heads, and Torture Dungeon.

You can also get the Arkansas film Psycho From Texas on a six-pack set with a bunch of non-horror titles.

Vinegar Syndrome, meanwhile, released a DVD/blu-ray combo of Lewis Jackson's Christmas Evil, and a limited edition (now sold out) DVD of the lost Alan Ormsby film Murder on the Emerald Seas. They've also got downloads available of Silent Night, Bloody Night, Guru the Mad Monk, and Fleshpot on 42nd Street.

Scream Factory/Shout Factory continues to impress, with From a Whisper to a Scream (The Offspring) coming in March, along with a special edition Blu-ray of Scarecrows. They join an already strong slate of releases that includes Sleepaway Camp, The Burning, Squirm, and The Town that Dreaded Sundown.

Fred Olen Ray announced that his Retromedia imprint would unleash an Andy Milligan triple feature in March, with Guru the Mad Monk, The Ghastly Ones, and The Body Beneath, in widescreen with extras.

Finally, Synapse has announced that it will be releasing the HD restoration of Manos, the Hands of Fate (see more here) later this year, along with one of our faves, The Creature From Black Lake.

Trailer of the Week: The Offspring (From a Whisper to a Scream, 1987)

Ohio-born director Jeff Burr made this fun anthology in Georgia, and secured the services of Vincent Price for the wraparound segments (one of his last genre performances) by cold calling him at his house, showing up uninvited with the script and a bottle of wine. Scream Factory will deliver the film on Blu-ray in March.

Trailer of the Week: Zontar: The Thing From Venus

Fred Olen Ray has dug into his vault and made another 50 or so copies of his RetroMedia Beast Collection DVD set available on Amazon (get 'em while you can). The set is a cornucopia of regional horror flicks, including Ed Adlum's Shriek of the Mutilated, Bill Rebane's Capture of Bigfoot, Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot, Larry Buchanan's The Eye Creatures, and the subject of our trailer of the week, Zontar: The Thing From Venus. Since Zontar was originally a made for TV project, we've posted a series of homemade trailers below that range from sublime to ridiculous.

Trailer of the Week: Scarecrows (1988)

I was happy to hear that one of my favorite Florida films, William Wesley's Scarecrows, will be getting the special edition blu-ray treatment from Scream Factory later this year. Unlike the bare-bones MGM disc, there should be a number of extras (effects guy Norman Cabrera is involved, at least), and a new transfer. Originally announced as one half of a double feature, Scarecrows will now be released as a two-disc set in March.

I still can't find an English-language trailer, but here's one in Spanish.