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: 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.

The Giant Spider Invasion that Wasn't

We were, needless to say, bummed when we learned that the previously announced two-disc special edition DVD of Wisconsin filmmaker Bill Rebane's The Giant Spider Invasion had been cancelled by MVD Entertainment because of a long-standing dispute between Rebane and RetroMedia's Fred Olen Ray regarding the video distribution rights.

RetroMedia bought exclusive rights to both Giant Spider Invasion and Rebane's Blood Harvest several years ago. The Giant Spider DVD was released in 2002, and included an introduction by Akron horror host The Son of Ghoul, and a reproduction of the comic book originally published to promote the film. Rebane then re-sold the rights again to BCI/Brentwood (in violation of his agreement with RetroMedia), which unleashed Spider in a four-film packaged called "Invasion of Terror," alongside The Black Room (1984), Craze (1973) and Rebane's Invasion from Inner Earth (1974). Ray filed suit against Rebane, and in 2007 courts in California and Wisconsin ruled in RetroMedia's favor.

You can read Rebane's version of events here, and Ray's thoughts on the matter (and supporting legal references) here.

Rebane has been offering a special edition of the film through various channels (including Amazon.com) on a DVD-R for some time, and this material was apparently going to be used on the MVD release.

If you REALLY need a Rebane fix, you can always check out some of his other films. Rana: The Legend of Shadow Lake (1975) is on an old DVD from Troma under the title Croaked: Frog Monster from Hell. His final feature, Twister's Revenge! (1987) is on the "Drive-In Movie Classics" 50 film pack from Mill Creek, while that same company's "Chilling Classics" collection boasts no less than three Rebane epics: The Alpha Incident (1978), The Demons of Ludlow (1983) and The Cold (a.k.a. The Game, 1984). Mill Creek's "Apocalypse" 20 movie set includes Invasion from Inner Earth under the title They.

RetroMedia issued a special edition disc of the Tiny Tim tour de force Blood Harvest (1987), and Something Weird offers the Rebane-meets-H.G. Lewis classic Monster a Go-Go (1965) on a double feature disc with Psyched by the 4D Witch (1972). RetroMedia also released my favorite Rebane film, The Capture of Bigfoot (1979), on the"Bigfoot Terror" four-movie set, where it makes a nice double feature with the New York lensed Shriek of the Mutilated (1974).

You can view some clips of the bonus material from Rebane's release of the film on YouTube, including a weird segment where a guy reads portions of Stephen King's description of the film from the book Danse Macabre. Click here and here.