Hello, everyone! We’re back with a brand new batch of home media releases, and this week’s assortment is an eclectic group. Code Red is showing some love to The Dead Pit and Arrow Video is keeping busy with their latest Giallo Essentials set and the 2-disc limited edition release of Mill of the Stone Women. Other titles headed home on December 14th include Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Amityville Vampire, Alone in the Woods, The Spanish Chainsaw Massacre, and Chicken’s Blood.
The Dead Pit
Dr. Ramzi (Danny Gochnauer), a deviant who enjoys torturing his patients, is killed by a fellow doctor and buried in the basement of a mental health facility. Twenty years later, the hospital is up and running again and a “Jane Doe” (Cheryl Lawson) arrives at the institute with amnesia. Upon her arrival, a major earthquake rocks the building and unearths the now undead Dr.
The Dead Pit
Dr. Ramzi (Danny Gochnauer), a deviant who enjoys torturing his patients, is killed by a fellow doctor and buried in the basement of a mental health facility. Twenty years later, the hospital is up and running again and a “Jane Doe” (Cheryl Lawson) arrives at the institute with amnesia. Upon her arrival, a major earthquake rocks the building and unearths the now undead Dr.
- 12/14/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
That’s how things ought to work — give this reviewer Exactly the great disc he wants to see and wait for the flood of praise. This Italian-French gothic gem can hold its own in the Eurohorror Renaissance of 1960, with fine direction, an attractive cast, a seductive heroine/villainess, and lush color cinematography that turns a Flemish windmill into a young lover’s Garden of Horrors. It’s a period picture with fairy tale overtones, atrocious medical crimes and a sensual romance that leans heavily on squeamish Victorian taboos . . . yes, it’s irresistible. So is the lavish presentation, one of this disc label’s very best. Call it Holiday Horror, perhaps.
Mill of the Stone Women
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1960 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 90, 95, 96 min. / Street Date December 14, 2021 / Available from Arrow Video / 59.95
Starring Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel, Herbert Böhme, Wolfgang Preiss, Dany Carrel, Liana Orfei, Marco Gugliemi.
Cinematography Pier Ludovico Pavoni
Production Designer...
Mill of the Stone Women
Blu-ray
Arrow Video
1960 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 90, 95, 96 min. / Street Date December 14, 2021 / Available from Arrow Video / 59.95
Starring Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel, Herbert Böhme, Wolfgang Preiss, Dany Carrel, Liana Orfei, Marco Gugliemi.
Cinematography Pier Ludovico Pavoni
Production Designer...
- 12/7/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Maximiliano Contenti's giallo love letter The Last Matinee leads Arrow's December SVOD lineup and we have an exclusive clip just for Daily Dead readers! Debuting on Arrow on December 1st to subscribers in the US, Canada, the UK, and Ireland, The Last Matinee will kick off Arrow's December releases, which is packed with an eclectic mix of titles that will please any genre fan:
December 1 will see the arrival of The Last Matinee (UK/US/CA/Ire), Santa Sangre (US/CA), All the Colors of the Giallo (UK/US/CA/Ire), King Boxer (UK/US/CA/Ire), The Boxer from Shantung (UK/US/CA/Ire), Five Shaolin Masters (UK/US/CA/Ire), Shaolin Temple (UK/US/CA/Ire), Mighty Peking Man (UK/US/CA/Ire), Challenge of the Masters (UK/US/CA/Ire), Executioners of Shaolin (UK/US/CA/Ire), Dirty Ho (UK/US/CA/Ire), Heroes of...
December 1 will see the arrival of The Last Matinee (UK/US/CA/Ire), Santa Sangre (US/CA), All the Colors of the Giallo (UK/US/CA/Ire), King Boxer (UK/US/CA/Ire), The Boxer from Shantung (UK/US/CA/Ire), Five Shaolin Masters (UK/US/CA/Ire), Shaolin Temple (UK/US/CA/Ire), Mighty Peking Man (UK/US/CA/Ire), Challenge of the Masters (UK/US/CA/Ire), Executioners of Shaolin (UK/US/CA/Ire), Dirty Ho (UK/US/CA/Ire), Heroes of...
- 11/29/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Renato Polselli’s vampire rally ups the on-screen babe count first and provides horror thrills second, yet Ernesto Gastaldi’s screenplay introduces an interesting wrinkle or two to the bloodsucking genre. This new bilingual release is a good presentation of what for American chiller fans has been a long-absent title.
The Vampire and the Ballerina
Blu-ray
Scream Factory
1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / L’amante del vampiro / Street Date May 22, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 27.99
Starring: Walter Brandi, Hélène Rémy, Tina Gloriani, María Luisa Rolando, Isarco Ravaioli, Gino Turini (John Turner), Pier Ugo Gragnani.
Cinematography: Angelo Baistrocchi
Film Editor: Renato Cinquini
Assistant Director: Ernesto Gastaldi
Original Music: Aldo Piga
Written by Ernesto Gastaldi, Giuseppe Pellegrini, Renato Polselli
Produced by Bruno Bolognese
Directed by Renato Polselli
We’re told that all of Europe jumped on a horror bandwagon with the success of the first two Technicolor Hammer gothic films, but it took...
The Vampire and the Ballerina
Blu-ray
Scream Factory
1960 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 85 min. / L’amante del vampiro / Street Date May 22, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 27.99
Starring: Walter Brandi, Hélène Rémy, Tina Gloriani, María Luisa Rolando, Isarco Ravaioli, Gino Turini (John Turner), Pier Ugo Gragnani.
Cinematography: Angelo Baistrocchi
Film Editor: Renato Cinquini
Assistant Director: Ernesto Gastaldi
Original Music: Aldo Piga
Written by Ernesto Gastaldi, Giuseppe Pellegrini, Renato Polselli
Produced by Bruno Bolognese
Directed by Renato Polselli
We’re told that all of Europe jumped on a horror bandwagon with the success of the first two Technicolor Hammer gothic films, but it took...
- 5/26/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A cinematic puzzle and a filmic detective piece, Serge Bromberg’s examination of a world-class filmmaker’s catastrophic, never-finished production fascinates and dazzles. If the particulars of H.G. Clouzot’s experimental epic of internal torment remain clouded, the astonishing visuals he created are a total knockout. Working with hours of uncut dailies and precise collaborator memories, Bromberg gives us the most interesting filmic autopsy on record. Incredible stuff!
Inferno
(L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
2009 / Color & B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 100 min. / L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot / Street Date February 6, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video 34.95
Starring: Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani, Bérénice Bejo, Jacques Gamblin, Dany Carrel, Jean-Claude Bercq, Mario David, Catherine Allégret, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Gilbert Amy, Jacques Douy, Jean-Louis Ducarme, Costa-Gavras, William Lubtchansky, Thi Lan Nguyen, Joël Stein, Bernard Stora, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bernard Blier, Inès Clouzot, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Lino Ventura, Burt Lancaster.
Cinematography: Jérôme Krumenacker, Irina Lubtchansky...
Inferno
(L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot)
Blu-ray
Arrow Academy
2009 / Color & B&W / 1:78 widescreen / 100 min. / L’enfer d’Henri-Georges Clouzot / Street Date February 6, 2018 / Available from Arrow Video 34.95
Starring: Romy Schneider, Serge Reggiani, Bérénice Bejo, Jacques Gamblin, Dany Carrel, Jean-Claude Bercq, Mario David, Catherine Allégret, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Gilbert Amy, Jacques Douy, Jean-Louis Ducarme, Costa-Gavras, William Lubtchansky, Thi Lan Nguyen, Joël Stein, Bernard Stora, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Bernard Blier, Inès Clouzot, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Lino Ventura, Burt Lancaster.
Cinematography: Jérôme Krumenacker, Irina Lubtchansky...
- 2/20/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Sometimes a movie is simply too good for just one special edition… Savant reached out to nab a British Region B import of Georges Franju’s horror masterpiece, to sample its enticing extras. And this also gives me the chance to ramble on with more thoughts about this 1959 show that inspired a score of copycats.
Eyes Without a Face (Bfi — U.K.)
Region B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Bfi
1959 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 90 min. / The Horror Chamber of
Dr. Faustus, House of Dr. Rasanoff, Occhi senza volto / Street Date August 24, 2015 / presently £10.99
Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Edith Scob, Alida Valli, Francois Guérin,
Béatrice Altariba, Juliette Mayniel
Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Production Designer: Auguste Capelier
Special Effects: Charles-Henri Assola
Film Editor: Gilbert Natot
Original Music: Maurice Jarre
Written by Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Pierre Gascar, Claude Sautet from a novel by Jean Redon
Produced by Jules Borkon
Directed by Georges Franju
Savant has reviewed Eyes Without a Face twice,...
Eyes Without a Face (Bfi — U.K.)
Region B Blu-ray + Pal DVD
Bfi
1959 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 90 min. / The Horror Chamber of
Dr. Faustus, House of Dr. Rasanoff, Occhi senza volto / Street Date August 24, 2015 / presently £10.99
Starring: Pierre Brasseur, Edith Scob, Alida Valli, Francois Guérin,
Béatrice Altariba, Juliette Mayniel
Cinematography: Eugen Schüfftan
Production Designer: Auguste Capelier
Special Effects: Charles-Henri Assola
Film Editor: Gilbert Natot
Original Music: Maurice Jarre
Written by Pierre Boileau, Thomas Narcejac, Pierre Gascar, Claude Sautet from a novel by Jean Redon
Produced by Jules Borkon
Directed by Georges Franju
Savant has reviewed Eyes Without a Face twice,...
- 4/11/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Seddok, l’erede di Satana (Atom Age Vampire)
Region 2 Pal DVD
Terminal Video Italia Srl
1960 / B&W / 1:66 flat letterbox / 103 min. / Street Date June 12, 2011 / available through Amazon.it / Eur 6,64
Starring: Alberto Lupo, Ivo Garrani, Susanne Loret, Sergio Fantoni, Rina Franchetti, Franca Parisi, Roberto Bertea.
Cinematography: Aldo Giordani
Film Editor: Gabrielle Varriale
Makeup Effects: Euclide Santoli
Original Music: Armando Trovajoli
Written by: Gino De Santis, Alberto Bevilacqua, Anton Giulio Majano; story by Piero Monviso
Produced by: Elio Ippolito Mellino (as Mario Fava)
Directed by Anton Giulio Majano
Let me herewith take a break from new discs to review an Italian release from six years ago, a movie that for years we knew only as Atom Age Vampire. Until sporadic late- night TV showings appeared, it existed for us ’60s kids as one or two interesting photos in Famous Monsters magazine. Forry Ackerman steered away from adult films, with the effect that...
Region 2 Pal DVD
Terminal Video Italia Srl
1960 / B&W / 1:66 flat letterbox / 103 min. / Street Date June 12, 2011 / available through Amazon.it / Eur 6,64
Starring: Alberto Lupo, Ivo Garrani, Susanne Loret, Sergio Fantoni, Rina Franchetti, Franca Parisi, Roberto Bertea.
Cinematography: Aldo Giordani
Film Editor: Gabrielle Varriale
Makeup Effects: Euclide Santoli
Original Music: Armando Trovajoli
Written by: Gino De Santis, Alberto Bevilacqua, Anton Giulio Majano; story by Piero Monviso
Produced by: Elio Ippolito Mellino (as Mario Fava)
Directed by Anton Giulio Majano
Let me herewith take a break from new discs to review an Italian release from six years ago, a movie that for years we knew only as Atom Age Vampire. Until sporadic late- night TV showings appeared, it existed for us ’60s kids as one or two interesting photos in Famous Monsters magazine. Forry Ackerman steered away from adult films, with the effect that...
- 1/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Mad doctors! Mortiferous maidens! Horrifying hallucinations! A key early Euro-horror and one of the very first in color, this French-Italian production is a medical horrorshow crossed with a folk tale -- its centerpiece is a vintage carillon attraction in an old mill; creepy Scilla Gabel is the minatory seducer who bridges the gap between life and death. Mill of the Stone Women Region A+B Blu-ray Subkultur / Media Target Distribution GmbH 1960 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 90, 95, 96 min. / Die Mühle der versteinerten Frauen / Street Date June 30, 2016 / Amazon.de Eur 24,99 Starring Pierre Brice, Scilla Gabel, Wolfgang Preiss, Robert Boehme, Dany Carrel Cinematography Pier Ludovico Pavoni Production Designer Arrigo Equini Film Editor Antonietta Zita Original Music Carlo Innocenzi Written by Remigio Del Grosso, Giorgio Ferroni, Ugo Liberatore, Giorgio Stegani from Flemish Stories by Peter Van Weigen (possibly apocryphal) Produced by Giampaolo Bigazzi Directed by Giorgio Ferroni
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
2016 is shaping up as a...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
2016 is shaping up as a...
- 7/23/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A young woman enters a crowded high-rise apartment elevator. She doesn’t notice the man next to her slipping on a pair of flesh-colored rubber gloves. Soon, they’re alone, and the mysterious stranger overtakes her with gleaming blade in hand. Brian De Palma’s twisted 1980 thriller Dressed to Kill took a page from this opening scene in Giuliano Carnimeo’s 1972 giallo The Case of the Bloody Iris (directed under the pseudonym Anthony Ascott). Carnimeo also borrows things, looking to Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace and Dario Argento’s playbook for the guise of his murderer and several stylistic choices. Giallo queen Edwige Fenech stars in the Ernesto Gastaldi-scripted story (also known as What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing on Jennifer's Body?) which pairs her with genre icon George Hilton again, months after the release of All the Colors of the Dark. There’s a...
- 1/24/2014
- by Alison Nastasi
- FEARnet
By Todd Garbarini
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Sergio Martino’s Torso (1973) was originally recommended to me on VHS at a Chiller Theatre horror film convention in 1999. I caught up with it later when DVD supplanted the inferior videocassette format as the primary method of home video viewing and while that transfer was a considerable step up, it was nothing compared to the new Blu-ray from Blue Underground, which is absolutely gorgeous. The image is pristine and bright. Derived from the original camera negative, Torso, succinctly and mercifully truncated from the jaw-breaking I Corpi Presentano Tracce di Violenza Carnale (Italian for The Bodies Show Signs of Carnal Violence), falls into the category of the Italian giallo thriller. The word giallo (pronounced gee-al-oh), like the term splatter films which is used for the brutally violent American horror thrillers released in the 1970’s and 1980’s in the wake of John Carpenter...
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
Sergio Martino’s Torso (1973) was originally recommended to me on VHS at a Chiller Theatre horror film convention in 1999. I caught up with it later when DVD supplanted the inferior videocassette format as the primary method of home video viewing and while that transfer was a considerable step up, it was nothing compared to the new Blu-ray from Blue Underground, which is absolutely gorgeous. The image is pristine and bright. Derived from the original camera negative, Torso, succinctly and mercifully truncated from the jaw-breaking I Corpi Presentano Tracce di Violenza Carnale (Italian for The Bodies Show Signs of Carnal Violence), falls into the category of the Italian giallo thriller. The word giallo (pronounced gee-al-oh), like the term splatter films which is used for the brutally violent American horror thrillers released in the 1970’s and 1980’s in the wake of John Carpenter...
- 3/3/2012
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The term “giallo” initially referred to cheap yellow paperbacks (printed American mysteries from writers such as Agatha Christie), that were distributed in post-fascist Italy. Applied to cinema, the genre is comprised of equal parts early pulp thrillers, mystery novels, with a willingness to gleefully explore onscreen sex and violence in provocative, innovative ways. Giallos are strikingly different from American crime films: they value style and plot over characterization, and tend towards unapologetic displays of violence, sexual content, and taboo exploration. The genre is known for stylistic excess, characterized by unnatural yet intriguing lighting techniques, convoluted plots, red herrings, extended murder sequences, excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork and unusual musical arrangements. Amidst the ‘creative kill’ set-pieces are thematic undercurrents along with a whodunit element, usually some sort of twist ending. Here is my list of the best giallo films – made strictly by Italian directors, so don’t expect Black Swan, Amer or...
- 10/26/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
For the horror buff, Fall is the best time of the year. The air is crisp, the leaves are falling and a feeling of death hangs on the air. Here at Sound on Sight we have some of the biggest horror fans you can find. We are continually showcasing the best of genre cinema, so we’ve decided to put our horror knowledge and passion to the test in a horror watching contest. Each week in October, Ricky D, James Merolla and Justine Smith will post a list of the horror films they have watched. By the end of the month, the person who has seen the most films wins. Prize Tbd.
Justine Smith (11 viewings) Total of 31 viewings
Purchase
Spider Baby or The Maddest Story Ever Told
Directed by Jack Jill
This movie is very fun, not so much scary as gleefully depraved. The film revels in it’s childhood attitude,...
Justine Smith (11 viewings) Total of 31 viewings
Purchase
Spider Baby or The Maddest Story Ever Told
Directed by Jack Jill
This movie is very fun, not so much scary as gleefully depraved. The film revels in it’s childhood attitude,...
- 10/18/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh) (1970)
A.K.A. Blade of the Ripper
Directed by Sergio Martino
Inspired by the often-imitated Les Diaboliques, director Sergio Martino (also known as Italy’s Roger Corman) proves once again why he does giallo better than most. Starring giallo queen Edwige Fenech (What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing on Jennifer’s Body, The Case of the Bloody Iris, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, and many more) and George Hilton (The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, The West Is Tough, Amigo), the film is a fashioned and engrossing thriller with impressive Italian locations, beautiful authentic interiors, awe-inspiring cinematography (by Emilio Foriscot and Floriano Trenker) and excellent sound design (Note the use of a heartbeat effect during a tense life-or-death scene is fantastic). A number of elements have been lifted...
A.K.A. Blade of the Ripper
Directed by Sergio Martino
Inspired by the often-imitated Les Diaboliques, director Sergio Martino (also known as Italy’s Roger Corman) proves once again why he does giallo better than most. Starring giallo queen Edwige Fenech (What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood Doing on Jennifer’s Body, The Case of the Bloody Iris, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, and many more) and George Hilton (The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, The West Is Tough, Amigo), the film is a fashioned and engrossing thriller with impressive Italian locations, beautiful authentic interiors, awe-inspiring cinematography (by Emilio Foriscot and Floriano Trenker) and excellent sound design (Note the use of a heartbeat effect during a tense life-or-death scene is fantastic). A number of elements have been lifted...
- 10/12/2011
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Above: the first Golden Donkey winner, Reha Erdem's Kosmos (2009).
Little did the Ferroni Brigade anticipate the earth-shattering importance of the date, as it happily embarked towards the Sala Volpi (also affectionately known as "the basement boiler room") on that warm evening of the opening of the Venice film festival 2004. Not that we—that is, the soon-to-be founding members and Other First Secretaries of the Central Committee of the Ferroni Brigade, Olaf Möller and Christoph Huber—weren't in a good mood: After all, we (almost) always rush to the cinema in hopes of being delighted and educated. And certainly the screening in the retrospective dedicated to the "Secret History of Italian Cinema" looked a lot more pleasurable than suffering again through Steven Spielberg's interminable The Terminal, which unspooled in the nearby Sala Grande, while we walked past our favorite festival usher (the "Centurio"), entered the shabby, but charming small...
Little did the Ferroni Brigade anticipate the earth-shattering importance of the date, as it happily embarked towards the Sala Volpi (also affectionately known as "the basement boiler room") on that warm evening of the opening of the Venice film festival 2004. Not that we—that is, the soon-to-be founding members and Other First Secretaries of the Central Committee of the Ferroni Brigade, Olaf Möller and Christoph Huber—weren't in a good mood: After all, we (almost) always rush to the cinema in hopes of being delighted and educated. And certainly the screening in the retrospective dedicated to the "Secret History of Italian Cinema" looked a lot more pleasurable than suffering again through Steven Spielberg's interminable The Terminal, which unspooled in the nearby Sala Grande, while we walked past our favorite festival usher (the "Centurio"), entered the shabby, but charming small...
- 4/19/2010
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.