DVD News

Whenever lists of horror movies that should be on DVD turns up, Frank De Felitta's Dark Night of the Scarecrow is invariably mentioned. That's pretty impressive considering it was a made-for-television flick. We've heard various rumblings about the title finally coming to DVD, but none of them have panned out. The latest rumor, which was first reported over at Horror Yearbook, has the title finally coming to DVD players everywhere courtesy of VCI.

Writer J.D. Feigelson tells the site that we should expect the disc sometime around Halloween. If this turns out to be true, it's very good news indeed.

Originally airing back in 1981, Dark Night of the Scarecrow starred Larry Drake as a retarded man wrongly accused of raping a young girl. Charles Durning is so convinced that Drake's character has committed the crime that he rounds up a posse of vigilantes and dispenses his own brand of justice. When the men avoid prison for their crime, a malevolent scarecrow begins picking them off one by one...

This simple tale of supernatural revenge benefited from a genuinely spooky atmosphere and a frightening scarecrow costume. I was roughly nine years old the first time I saw Dark Night and it creeped me out so bad that I still remember some of the scenes almost thirty years later. I do wonder if it will hold up when compared to my childhood memories, but word from various folks who've seen it on bootlegs over the past few years indicate that it's as good as we remembered. No word on extras yet, but I'd settle for a bare bones disc just to have this movie in my collection at this point.

I'm a big Ginger Snaps fan (out by sixteen or dead on the scene...) so I was pretty happy to learn that Katharine Isabelle is exchanging her fur and fangs for some camping gear in Vivendi Entertainment's direct to DVD release, Hard Ride to Hell. She's starring alongside Laura Mennel and Miguel Ferrer in a story about devil-worshipping bikers.

A group of campers traveling along a Texas desert highway accidentally stumble upon a biker gang's obscene blood sacrifice. The friends are hunted by the gang, which leads them to hide out in a decrepit church in a ghost town where a strange, young boy and a priest becomes a whole new hell for them to contend with.

It always cracks me up how movies portray bikers, like in this new still from the film where one guy has Mike Tyson style tattoos and Ferrer has a skull on his bike. I never see bikers that look like this! Also, I'm having a hard time picturing Ferrer as a badass biker since I've seen him as the smart-mouthed, quirky dude in too many TV shows, but I like him and Isabelle so I'd be willing to give this one a try when it hits Spike TV before its home video release. How about you?

Movies about city slickers running afoul of clans of inbred hillbillies/rednecks are a dime a dozen in horror--but that doesn't stop fledgling filmmakers from taking a crack at updating the overly familiar tale in their own work. Such is the case with Adam Brooks' indie horror flick The Season. The ode to originality here? The assailants are excommunicated Amish folk.

The official sales sheet for The Season turned up on the film's Facebook page recently (thanks to our friends at Shock Till You Drop for spotting it), and it features the usual assortment of info one would expect to find on this sort of document. The title is set to make its DVD debut on June 29th. No word on extras yet, but a copy of the disc will set you back roughly 20 bucks.

The film tells the tale of the aforementioned group excommunicated Amish (complete with inbred mutants...). They've set up shop in Iowa, where they're capturing travelers and holding them hostage--all for the nefarious purpose of breeding them.

Yep, sounds very familiar.

The Season has played a few festivals to date and even picked up some hardware along the line. The title was honored with a "Best Cinematography" award at the Dark Carnival Film Festival and snagged the "Audience Choice Gold Medal for Excellence" at the Park City Music Film Festival 2009.

Be sure to visit the film's official site for more details and a look at the trailer.

As an unashamed supporter of indie golden-child Paranormal Activity (review), I snagged a copy of the DVD as soon as I could. Lacking even a basic menu screen (the only options you're given are theatrical or original ending) and devoid of anything resembling a special feature, I turned it off halfway through when the picture, which was being viewed on a massive hi-def TV, was so dark I could barely make heads or tails of what was going on. I have yet to watch it again.

This is okay, however, as those fine folks over at Dread Central have brought to my attention a forthcoming UK DVD and Blu-Ray release of the film featuring all those delightful special features we've been aching to see. Not only do we get an exclusive UK-only audio commentary from director Oren Peli, but we also get an exclusive audio commentary for the alternate ending that appeared on my coaster of a DVD.

Although this commentary is sure to be incredibly eye-opening, the final feature seems to me to be the most interesting. When the film was playing in the UK, Icon Home Entertainment sponsored a "Film Your Own Paranormal Activity" Short Film competition, challenging fans to make their own haunting films using the same techniques Peli did to create his massive hit. Although all of the short films can be found on YouTube, the UK edition of the DVD will feature the ten finalists' videos, as well as a video introduction by Oren Peli explaining why the winning video was chosen.

I don't even own a Blu-Ray player, or even a TV, and I'm excited as all Hell about this. Hey, the movie is great, and I will support it until the sun goes out.

There are many things I love in this world, but two things I adore above almost everything else are horror flicks and Asian action cinema. So, whenever a film comes along that merges the two, I get excited. Such is the case with Rob Fitz's long-awaited God of Vampires. GoV isn't an Asian action film in the traditional sense, but it does take place in Chinatown and features what appears to be a Triad assassin taking on Chinese vampires. That's close enough for me.

Dread Central brings us the latest update on the project, stating that the film will make its DVD debut through Midnight Releasing on May 4th of this year.

The story finds professional assassin Frank Ng tasked with killing a Chinese crime lord. The catch is that said Chinese crime lord is really a vampire--and he's not all that interested in being killed. Frank must then assemble a team of vampire hunters to destroy the evil vampire once and for all--but it won't be easy, and if the trailer is any indication, things are going to get bloody.

Check out the official synopsis and trailer after the jump. The film doesn't appear to feature any of the traditional hopping Chinese vampires, but it does feature vampire kung-fu, which is a trade-off I'm willing to accept. It also features lots of blood spatter, high-powered weaponry, and guys in dark trench coats channeling their inner Chow Yun-fat--which is like the Bracken trifecta of coolness.

Last week, we brought you the official DVD release date for The Descent Part 2--the highly anticipated follow up to Neil Marshall's classic "women trapped in an underground cave with hideous monsters" flick from a few years back. Lionsgate revealed that the disc would be hitting retailers on April 27th--and bypassing theaters completely.

Today we've got an update (thanks to our friends at Fangoria), which highlights what we can expect in terms of bonus materials to go along with the feature. It's not an Earth-shattering list of supplements, but fans should be pleased.

Here's the list of extras:

• Storyboards

If that doesn't get you excited, maybe news that the film will be presented in 16x9 widescreen and with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound will. I know I'm giddy just thinking about it.

The disc is set to retail for $28.98, but I'm guessing you'll be able to score a copy for way less if you should be so inclined. Expect a full review later this spring.

Best of the New Releases: Cabin Fever 2
I know I'm in the minority here, but I actually kind of dug Cabin Fever 2 (my review). Let's be clear, though. It is a messy, messy, mess of a movie mess sewn together in crude and thoughtless ways, but I kind of admire it in a strange, I know I shouldn't fashion. I think Gilchrist's guest review earlier today really sold how strong Ti West contributions were, even if they were Frankensteined in the final product.

I wouldn't particularly recommend CF2 to anyone, per se, but the only people I'd actively warn away from its crude, fluid-loving ways are those who'd look down on a straight-to-video Cabin Fever sequel in the first place.

Best of the New Releases: Um...
I apologize if you've spent the last 24 hours curled in the fetal position, shaking like a newborn lamb out of fear that Horror Squad would not be bringing you a list of this week's discs. Don't worry, I'm just a day late. The reason I'm late? Well, there just isn't much of note this week.

The biggest title of the week is The Stepfather remake and I think we all know that's nothing to get excited about. The movie is watchable, but only in "on cable, got nothing else to do" kind of way. I also highly doubt that the Unrated Director's Cut on Blu-ray really has anything particularly eye catching to warrant the unrated label.

Joe Zito's The Prowler has long been one of my favorite underappreciated slasher films. It's hardly the best stalk-and-kill flick I've ever seen, but it does feature some really great kill scenes courtesy of Tom Savini--including another shotgun blast to the head gag a la Maniac and a classic knife through the skull sequence that is one of my favorites of all time.

Blue Underground announced (thanks to the mighty Dread Central for posting the news) yesterday that they're bringing The Prowler to DVD. You may be thinking "hey, didn't they do this a few years ago?" They did, indeed, but this new release is an uncut version of Joe Zito's film. According to the guys at Blue Underground, we can expect this new release of the cult classic by Halloween. Blu-ray details haven't been announced yet, plans are in the works for a high def version. Hurray for Savini gore in high definition!

The Prowler is, narratively speaking, quite typical of slasher films from that era. A murder happens in 1945 and the killer is never caught. Now, thirty years later, the murders have started again. It's a film that certainly draws some inspiration from the Italian gialli, but like most of the early American slashers, it tweaks the formula a bit and mutates into something that's uniquely its own. I definitely recommend it to slasher fans and those who love Savini's effects work. Plus, The Prowler helped pave the way for Savini and Zito to team up again a few years later in a little film called Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.

Keep it here at Horror Squad for more details on these discs.

Some call it The Gates of Hell. Others know it as City of the Living Dead. The Italians know it as Paura nella città dei morti viventi, which translated literally is Fear in the City of the Living Dead. My mom (and probably yours) knows it as "a disgusting zombie flick I've never heard of and will definitely never see."

It was one of those "badge of courage" horror flicks among my youthful friends and myself. Along with titles like I Spit On Your Grave, Bloodsucking Freaks, and Snuff, The Gates of Hell (as it was originally released here in the States) was one of the horror movies you had to make it all the way through if you wanted to hang with the big boys. And by big boys I mean brave 14-year-old horror nerds. Obviously.

Enough blather. Catalog polisher Blue Underground has just announced a City of the Living Dead Blu-ray, and I for one cannot wait to see what a woman vomiting high-definition intestines looks like on my television. To be released on May 25, the COTLD / TGOH blu-ray will provide three new featurettes, in addition to some previously-released marketing stuff and gory treats. Full details and cover art are available at DVDActive, which, by the way, is a fantastic resource for new DVD announcements. Just saying.

And yes, you're probably right: Zombie is most likely Fulci's finest fright flick. And then The Beyond. Or House By the Cemetery. This one just holds some nostalgia value for me. Plus it's really gross. Not even a particularly good movie, opinion be told, but lots of fun for the gorehounds.