Tag: VCI Entertainment

Cult Horror Film ‘Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things’ Due on DVD Oct. 11, 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Oct. 25 From MVD and VCI

The 1972 cult horror film Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things will be released on DVD Oct. 11 and on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray Disc Oct. 25 from VCI Entertainment and MVD Entertainment Group.

Directed by Benjamin (Bob) Clark, the creative director behind Porky’s, Black Christmas and A Christmas Story, the film follows five young kinky actors and their artistic director who come to a desolate and nearly forgotten burial island with a morbid history of murder, rape, curses and demons. Alan (Alan Ormsby), the brilliant but bizarre director of the company, has brought them to the foreboding place to dabble in witchcraft, specifically to dig up a fresh corpse and use it in a ritual ceremony which is supposed to raise the dead from their graves. It seems as though Alan has really gathered his “children” here, only to play a practical joke on them and then to party the rest of the night away. However, the joke’s on Alan. His bizarre ritual ceremony really does raise the dead from their graves.  Ormsby — though he turned in what has been described as “one of the most obnoxious screen performances in history” — actually made a mark for himself as the screenwriter for such memorable films as My Bodyguard, Cat People, Karate Kid 3 and Porky’s 2.

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Special features include a new 2022 video introduction and Q&A with Alan Ormsby; a new 2022, 90-minute video documentary Dreaming of Death: Bob Clark’s Horror Films, with many new interviews with cast and crew; a full commentary track with Ormsby, Jane Daly and Anya Cronin; The Los Angeles Grindhouse Festival May 22, 2007, Q&A; a video filmed in between a double feature showing of Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things and Deathdream at the Beverly Cinema; “Confessions of a Grave Digger,” a  video interview with Ken Goch; a photo and poster gallery; the “Dead Girls Don’t Say No” music video by The Deadthings; the “Cemetery Mary” Music video by The Deadthings; the original theatrical trailer and radio spots; a new liner-notes booklet written by Patrick McCabe; and a collectible slipcover limited to the initial pressing.

1930s Joan Crawford Classic ‘Rain’ Due on DVD and Blu-ray Sept. 27 From VCI and MVD

The 1932 Joan Crawford drama Rain, celebrating its 90th anniversary, will be released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD Sept. 27 from VCI Entertainment and MVD Entertainment Group.

The release features a new 4K restoration produced from the original, uncut 94-minute version.

Rain — a classic that caused controversy when first released — portrays W. Somerset Maugham’s powerful story of Sadie Thompson and is perhaps the most celebrated version. It vividly captures the lives of several very different human beings, thrown together on Pago Pago during a fierce monsoon. Crawford is the cynical prostitute, and Walter Huston is the minister who tries to reform her.

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Special features include a commentary track by Mick LaSalle, writer for the San Francisco Chronicle and noted film historian; a commentary track by Richard Barrios, writer, historian and commentator; a liner note booklet written by Marc Wannamaker, writer and film historian; the  original theatrical trailer; a poster and photo gallery; a period appropriate Betty Boop cartoon and newsreel; and the alternate 76-minute “cut version” of the 1938 Atlantic Reissue for comparison.

VCI Inks Deal to Release Restored Mary Pickford Films

VCI Entertainment has entered into an agreement with the Mary Pickford Foundation to distribute the silent star’s archive of preserved and restored films with original music.

Available now on DVD from VCI are Fanchon the Cricket (1915) and Little Annie Rooney (1925). Both films are restored from 4K scans of the original negatives and feature new musical scores produced exclusively for these editions. In addition, the DVDs include picture filled liner notes with behind-the-scenes stories of the making of the movies and Pickford’s life at the time. The two titles were released initially on the Flicker Alley label.
 
The first Pickford film to debut on the VCI label will be the 4K restoration of Sparrows (1926), due Dec. 21 on Blu-ray, DVD and digitally. Sparrows has been restored by the Library of Congress and digitally mastered by the foundation, and it will feature an original orchestral score by the Graves Brothers. The release also contains bonus features, including never-before-seen outtakes, the original theatrical trailer, and a 16-page souvenir booklet featuring rare photographs and essays by the Mary Pickford Foundation.

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Mary Pickford was a  performer, producer and businesswoman who helped shape the film industry. While she was a founder of United Artists, the Motion Picture Television Fund and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, her greatest fame came as an actor. In less than a decade, she went from making $10 a week to being the first actor to be offered $1 million a year. She starred in more than 100 short films and more than two dozen feature films.

“It is hard to find the words to express our gratitude for the opportunity the Mary Pickford Foundation has given us,” said VCI Entertainment president Robert Blair in a statement. “It is an honor and a privilege just to be connected to such a Hollywood icon. The Mary Pickford films will automatically become the crown jewels in our library, and represent the embodiment of our mission to preserve, restore and champion classic movies.”
 
Distributed by the MVD Entertainment Group, VCI Entertainment is the oldest surviving independent home video company in the United States (celebrating its 45th Anniversary in 2021), and a distributor of classic and eclectic entertainment content for DVD, Blu-ray, TV, cable and digital platforms. The VCI library contains more than 6,000 titles, including feature films, episodes and short subjects. The library spans many genres and contains several notable classic films and documentaries, including The Miracle of Marcelino (1955), Chariots of the Gods (1970), and what is billed as  the first “movie produced for the home video market” Blood Cult (1985).

Pickford’s philanthropy was a hallmark of her entire life and by creating her foundation, she assured that her commitment to her craft, her community and her giving would continue behind her passing in 1979. The Mary Pickford Foundation works to inspire future generations of women and filmmakers in many ways, including the restoration, preservation and distribution of her films.

1930s Serial ‘Wild West Days,’ Mexican Film ‘Santo in the Treasure of Dracula’ Coming to Disc Feb. 9 From MVD and VCI

The 1937 serial Wild West Days and the Mexican film Santo in the Treasure of Dracula: The Sexy Vampire Version are coming to DVD and Blu-ray Feb. 9 from MVD Entertainment Group and VCI Entertainment.

In Santo in the Treasure of Dracula, after inventing a time machine, Mexican wrestler El Santo goes back in time to track down the location of Dracula’s hidden treasure with the noble intention of using the treasure to help fund a children’s hospital. In his quest to obtain the treasure, he is forced to face down and battle Dracula and his bevy of beautiful, vampire vixens. The original 1969 release of Santo en El Tesoro de Drácula was black-and-white and featured no nudity. The film was simultaneously shot in color featuring full frontal nudity for European markets and finally released in Mexico in 2012 as El Vampiro y el Sexo. Presented for the first time in the English language, the film was directed by Rene Cardona Sr., who helmed a number of entries in El Santo’s filmography including two co-directed with his son — Santo in Operation 67 and Santo in the Treasure of Montezuma. Bonus materials include trailers.

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Wild West Days, a Universal Studios film serial based on a Western novel by W. R. Burnett restored in 4K, was based on the novel Saint Johnson by William R. Burnett. However, the main character in the serial is a frontiersman called Kentucky Wade instead of Saint Johnson as in the novel. It’s an action-packed serial presenting the dangers, hardships and triumphs of the early Western pioneers. Kentucky Wade and his two buddies ride to help a couple who are being threatened by outlaws, and he and his pals also keep busy fighting their way across the plains and mountains to battle a tribe of Indians led by Red Hatchet. Shortly they also contend with false reports of a strike, which starts a gold rush and hair-trigger action. Episodes include “Death Rides the Range,” “The Redskin’s Revenge,” “The Brink of Doom,” “The Indians Are Coming,” “The Leap for Life,” “Death Stalks the Plains,” “Six Gun Law,” “The Gold Stampede,” “Walls of Fire,” “Circle of Doom,” “The Thundering Herd,” “Rustlers and Redskins” and “Rustler’s Roundup.” Directed by Ford Beebe and Clifford Smith, the serial stars Johnny Mack Brown, George Shelley, Lynn Gilbert, Frank Yaconelli, Bob Kortman, Russell Simpson and Walter Miller. Wild West Days was the 103rd of the studio’s 137 serials (and the 35th with sound) and was the first of three serials Brown made for the studio before being promoted to his own ‘B’ Western series in 1939.

Mexican Genre Film ‘Batwoman’ and ‘The Panther Women’ Double Feature Due on Disc Jan. 19 From MVD

The 1960s Mexican genre films Batwoman and The Panther Women will be available in a double feature in English on Blu-ray and DVD Jan. 19 from MVD Entertainment Group and VCI Entertainment.

In Batwoman, after the body of a professional wrestler is found off Acapulco’s coastline, the victim, by all appearances, is believed to have drowned. However, the autopsy reveals a very perplexing and disturbing prognosis, when it’s discovered the victim’s pineal gland has been surgically drained of all fluid. With this prognosis eerily imitating the findings in the autopsies of murdered victims in Hong Kong and Macao, the police turn the investigation over to Mario Roble, who enlists the help of a beautiful crime fighting luchador known as Batwoman. Their thorough investigation leads them to an evil neurosurgeon who is using the fluid in his endeavors to genetically engineer a half fish, half man hybrid.

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In The Panther Women, in an effort to resurrect the dead leader of their satanic cult, the Panther Women must perform blood sacrifices in order for him to arise from his cold grave. Using the wrestling ring as their sepulcher and their unsuspecting opponents as their blood sacrifice’s, these beautiful sirens of Satan perform their life-resurrecting rituals, shedding much innocent blood. However, the accomplishment of their goal is thwarted, after Captain Diaz becomes wise to their evil dealings and quest.

Director Rene Cardona was later known for his luchador (masked wrestler) adventure movies such as Santo vs. the Riders of Terror (1970) and Night of the Bloody Apes (1969).

‘Scream Theater’ Double Feature, Adventure ‘Mutiny’ Available on Disc From MVD and VCI

Two titles from VCI Entertainment, the double feature Scream Theater and the 1952 adventure Mutiny, are available on disc from MVD Entertainment Group this month.

Produced from a new restoration re-mastered from the original 35mm Technicolor negatives in 4K, Mutiny is available on Blu-ray Disc. In the film, during the War of 1812, the United States, in need of gold, arranges with a French group to lend the government $10 million in bullion. To bring the gold here, an American ship must break through the British blockade. A young captain accepts the dangerous assignment and after several narrow escapes, the ship finally reaches France. No sooner is the gold aboard the American ship than the crew mutinies and sets the captain adrift, giving him one chance in a thousand to reach shore. The captain survives his watery experience, returns with the American Navy and recaptures his vessel. A British warship arrives on the scene, but one of the men volunteers to torpedo the enemy in an untried submarine made for a two-man crew. The mission is successful, and the gold eventually reaches America. The film stars Mark Stevens and Angela Lansbury.

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The Scream Theater double feature, including the 1970s horror films The House of the Living Dead and Night of the Bloody Transplant, is available on DVD.

In The House of the Living Dead, evil lives and feeds in the attic of Brattling Manor in a remote corner of the South African Veldt at the turn of the century. Lady Marianne arrives from London to join her beloved fiancé, Sir Michael Brechenridge, at his stately ancestral home. From the outset of her visit, things go strangely wrong for Marianne. Michael’s autocratic mother is not at all receptive to the visitor. At night Marianne is disturbed by strange organ music and ghostly footsteps in the corridor.

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In Night of the Bloody Transplant, Dr. James Arnold tries to get approval to perform a heart transplant for his elderly benefactor, but the medical society turns him down. When a ne’er do well brother accidentally kills a young woman, the doctor takes matters into his own hands and his benefactor gets a new heart. Meanwhile, his brother goes on a killing rampage and, in a bizarre turn of events, Dr. Arnold is also killed, and his heart is transplanted to save a policeman the brother has shot. The film contains actual footage of open-heart surgery.

‘Mommy’ Horror Films, Mexican Classics on Disc From MVD and VCI

Two horror films and three Mexican classics are coming on disc from MVD Entertainment Group and VCI Entertainment.

Available now on Blu-ray and DVD is the Mommy and Mommy 2 25th anniversary special edition double feature. The release includes the two horror films from the 1990s for the first time in high definition. Mommy is pretty, perfect, June Cleaver with a cleaver, and you don’t want to deny her — or her precious daughter — anything. Patty McCormack (Academy Award-nominated for her classic portrayal of The Bad Seed) stars in this thriller from the best-selling novel. The film also stars Jason Miller (The Exorcist), Majel Barrett, Mickey Spillane and “scream queen” Brinke Stevens. Special features include Leonard Martin on Mommy; the original trailer; bloopers; a PBS documentary; “Mommy’s Day,” Patty McCormack Interviewed by Max Allan Collins; and “The Making of Mommy.”

Coming Feb. 25 on Blu-ray are four Mexican classics.

In 1949’s A Family Like Many Others (Una Familia de Tantas), Rodrigo Cataño (Fernando Soler) runs his household like his own private kingdom, demanding obedience and respect from his submissive wife Doña Gracia (Eugenia Galindo) and their five children. This strictly maintained state of affairs is disturbed with the arrival of charming travelling salesman Roberto (David Silva), who convinces the initially resistant Rodrigo to purchase his newfangled household wares (first a vacuum cleaner, then a fridge) and enchants the family’s 15-year-old daughter Maru (Martha Roth). When Maru declares that she intends to marry Roberto, she defies not only her domineering father, but also the entire patriarchal order he represents. Long considered one of the key films of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Alejandro Galindo’s family drama depicts the tension between tradition and modernity that was gripping Mexican society at the time. The film is No. 36 on The 100 Best Movies of Mexican Cinema (Somos magazine) and was the Silver and Gold Ariel Award Winner, Mexican Cinema.

Available for the first time on Blu-ray produced from a new 4K restoration, 1946’s La Barraca is No. 21 on the List of The 100 Best Movies of Mexican Cinema (Somos). In rural Spain, a new family arrives in town to work a parcel (barraca), the townsfolk are very hostile to the idea of another working the land that once belonged to one of them. Though set in Spain and adaptated from an 1895 novel by the popular Spanish writer Vicente Blasco Ibánez (Blood and Sand), this story of an immigrant family’s struggles to establish their own small farm was close enough to the concerns of Mexico’s tradition of rural melodramas to become an immediate popular and critical success. In recent years, as part of a collaborative project, the Film Library of the UNAM and the AMACC (Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences) have joined forces to restore and preserve Mexico’s national film collection. La Barraca is one of five films restored so far. The film won nine Silver Ariel Awards and one Gold Ariel Award, including Best Director, Male Actor, Female Actor, Screenplay and Cinematography.

For the first time on Blu-ray comes 1960’s The Skeleton of Mrs. Morales (El Esqueleto de la señora Morales), a 1960 Mexican black comedy film adapted from horror master Arthur Machen’s 1927 story “The Islington Mystery” by screenwriter Luis Alcoriza, a frequent collaborator of Luis Buñuel. The film is ranked No. 19 on the list of the 100 Best Films of Mexican Cinema (Somos). It tells the tale of quiet taxidermist Pablo Morales (former matinee idol Arturo de Córdova) who suffers the demands of his prudish and hypochondriac wife Gloria (Amparo Rivelles). After 20 years of a hellish marriage, he decides to murder her. Over the top performances and an ironic, final twist make this film by Rogelio A. González a timeless satire of weepy melodramas.

The 1968 horror film Even the Wind Is Afraid (Hasta El Viento Tiene Miedo) is a tale about a group of college students, led by Claudia, a young girl who decides to investigate a creepy tower at her all girl boarding school that has figured prominently in disturbing reoccurring dreams Claudia has been having. The dream also consists of a hanged woman’s body. They are suspended from the school for the antics, but Claudia learns from one of the female staff members that the person in the dream is a student who killed herself years before, and that the school principal knows more about the situation than she’s willing to admit. The tormented and restless spirit is hell-bent on enacting her revenge. The film was remade in 2007.

Bela Lugosi Classic ‘The Human Monster’ Among Titles on VCI October 2019 Disc Slate From MVD

The classic 1975 documentary Brother Can You Spare a Dime?, the Kung Fu film The Leg Fighters and the Bela Lugosi classic The Human Monster are on the eclectic October disc slate from VCI Entertainment and MVD Entertainment Group.

Brother Can You Spare A Dime?, available now on Blu-ray Disc, is writer-director Philippe Mora’s chronicle of the Great Depression, in both its bleak lows and its artistic highs. Featuring the grim reality that many Americans faced during the era, largely in the form of newsreel clips, the film also depicts how Hollywood dealt with this period of widespread poverty and unemployment. Much of the movie footage showcases glamour and extravagance, providing lively moments of escapism that contrast starkly with day-to-day life during the 1930s. The film features clips with Hollywood stars including John Wayne, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Clarke Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Katharine Hepburn and Fred Astaire. It was a 1976 Golden Globe Award nominee for Best Documentary Film.

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Also available now is The Leg Fighters on Blu-ray plus DVD combo pack. The Kung Fu film follows Phoenix, a rebellious young student in martial arts. When her father brings in a new Kung Fu instructor, she has to shape up quickly as a deadly master approaches looking for him to avenge his brother’s death. With action scenes from Sun Jung-Chi Sun and Kang Peng, the fights set new standards in kicking choreography under the knowledgeable action eye of Tso Nam Lee (The Hot, the Cool and the Vicious). The disc includes audio commentary by filmmaker, actor and Kung Fu film fan Michael Worth, who also visits with director Lee Tso Nam in the extras. The box includes an original illustration commissioned from popular genre artist Ian McEwan.

The 1939 classic The Human Monster: Collector’s Edition is due Oct. 29 on Blu-ray. Bela Lugosi gives one of his finest portraits of evil in this adaptation of Edgar Wallace’s terror-thriller-mystery The Dark Eyes of London. A series of drownings have Scotland Yard baffled. One common denominator; the dead men were heavily insured through a particular brokerage firm and all the policies were paid off. Larry Hold, a Scotland Yard detective, and a visiting American cop from Chicago get on the trail and, with the help of the daughter of one of the dead men, discover a horrifying cause to the so-called accidents/suicides. Behind it all is a human monster, a doctor who is using a home for blind men as a front for his nightmarish activities. His main tool is a gargoyle-like brute who eventually becomes the madman’s downfall. Filmed in England, The Human Monster features Lugosi as a fiend more diabolical than any criminal the encountered by Scotland Yard. Extras include a commentary track by noted film historian, author and Lugosi expert Gary Don Rhodes; a commentary track by film historian David del Valle and author, screenwriter and “monster kid” Phoef Sutton; liner notes written by film historian Patrick McCabe; the archival video “Intimate Interview with Bela Lugosi”; a poster and photo gallery; and the original U.S. re-issue theatrical trailer.

Classic Cliffhanger ‘The Vanishing Shadow’ Available on DVD and Blu-ray From MVD and VCI

The Vanishing Shadow, a classic 1930s cliffhanger from Universal Pictures, which has never had an official video release on any format, is now available for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD from MVD Entertainment Group and VCI Entertainment.

Produced from the original studio film elements, the 12-episode Universal serial follows a son who avenges the death of his father at the hands of corrupt politicians. He develops a wide variety of complex devices in his crusade — ray guns, robots and a “vanishing belt.”

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The serial features what is believed to be the first appearance of a handheld ray gun in film.

Classic TV Shows, Rare TV Pilots Among Titles Coming From VCI and MVD This Fall

A collection of rare and “lost” programs from the early days of television are being released this fall on disc by VCI Entertainment and MVD Entertainment Group.

Produced by Jeff Joseph (SabuCat Productions), film archivist, historian, author and producer, the shows have been restored in high definition from the best archival film elements available. Some of the programs have not been seen since they were originally broadcast.

Due Sept .11 is Television’s Lost Classics – Volume One – John Cassavetes on DVD and Blu-ray, which features two dramatic programs starring the actor. Episode one is “Crime in the Streets,” which is from The Elgin Hour (Elgin watches) and was broadcast live on ABC March 8, 1955. Written by Reginald Rose and directed by Sidney Lumet, it stars Robert Preston and a very young Cassavetes. Episode two is “No Right to Kill,” with Cassavetes, Terry Moore and Robert H. Harris. It was part of the Climax! series and was presented by the Chrysler Corp. Broadcast on CBS Aug. 9, 1956, it is based on Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Original commercial messages are included in the episode, as well as a bonus blooper reel from the “Defenders” and “The Nurses” series.

Coming Oct. 9 is Television’s Lost Classics – Volume Two – Rare ‘Pilots’ with four episodes on DVD and Blu-ray. “Case of the Sure Thing” stars Reed Hadley, Louise Currie and Milburn Stone and introduced the series “Racket Squad,” which lasted for three seasons and was nominated for two Primetime Emmys. The program reportedly may have inspired parts of the Hollywood hit The Sting. First broadcast on CBS June 7, 1951, the pilot contains original network commercials as originally broadcast. Directed by Jacques Tourneur, “Cool and Lam” stars Billy Pearson, Benay Venuta, Alison Hayes and Sheila Bromley in a light-hearted, detective yarn featuring characters first created by Erle Stanley Gardner. Bertha Cool runs a detective agency and Donald Lam is her junior partner, hence “Cool and Lam.” “The Life of Riley” features Lon Chaney Jr., Rosemary DeCamp and John Brown. It stars Chaney as Chester Riley and was produced in 1948, but by the time the first season went into full production in 1949, Chaney had been replaced by Jackie Gleason. “Nero Wolfe” stars Kurt Kasznar, William Shatner and Alexander Scourby in another one-off production based on characters created by Rex Stout. Also included on the disc is a bonus CBS blooper reel hosted by James Arness.

Additional volumes are planned with the third in the series already in production for release in late 2018.

Also on tap Oct. 9 on DVD is I Married Joan: Classic TV Collection Vol. 4, with 10 episodes. The show, featuring physical humor in the vein of “I Love Lucy,” centers on Joan, a scatterbrained housewife, and her husband, Bradley Stevens, who was a staid and settled domestic court judge. Beverly Wills, Joan Davis’ real-life daughter, also co-starred on the show playing the part of her sister.

Streeting Sept. 11 is the “Boris Karloff Collection” on two DVDs, a compilation of four rare films featuring the horror legend. Films in the collection include Alien Terror, Cult of the Dead, Dance of Death and Torture Zone. In addition to Karloff, the films star Andres Garcia, Carlos East, Enrique Guzman and Christa Linder.

Finally, due Oct. 23 on Blu-ray and DVD is Blood and Black Lace, director Mario Bava’s film about an unscrupulous business operating under the guise of a top fashion house with exotic models running sexual favors, cocaine dealings and blackmail. Bonus features include 2018 commentary by Kat Ellinger, editor-in-chief and author, Diabolique Magazine; 2018 commentary by film historian David Del Valle and director/writer C. Courtney Joyner; a video Interview with Mary Dawne Arden; an archival video interview with star Cameron Mitchell, with Del Valle; an original American theatrical trailer, plus Italian, German and French trailers; bonus trailers of other Bava films; a photo gallery; alternate original Italian or original U.S. theatrical main titles; bonus music tracks by composer Carlo Rustichelli; video comparison of American and European cuts; and a two-sided cover wrap with alternate cover art.