Tag Archives: Arrow Video

Movie Review: The House with Laughing Windows

by in Reviews: Movies and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

(1976)
Directed by Pupi Avati
Starring Lino Capolicchio, Francesca Marciano, Gianni Cavina, Guilio Pizzirani, Bob Tonelli, Vanna Busoni, Pietro Brambilla, Andrea Matteuzzi, Pina Borione, Eugene Walter

You’ll often read that this film is considered a giallo, the same genre that would include Mario Bava’s Blood and Black Lace and Dario Argento’s Deep Red. And if you try and compare House to those two, you might have trouble seeing many similarities. Upon my first viewing, I agreed completely with that statement, even while discussing it on a podcast I was on a few years ago. But that shows a few things. First of all, it shows how open the parameters of the giallo sub-genre really are, and secondly, and more importantly, how one’s thoughts and opinions of a picture can evolve. When you compare House with something like Lucio Fulci’s Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972), which is also a giallo, then you can see it having more of a connection. That’s the beauty of different sub-genres, and film in general, isn’t it? They are so subjective and always open for different or possible interpretation. And for this one, it’s definitely one of those.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Hellbender

by in Reviews: Movies and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

(2021)
Directed by John Adams, Zelda Adams, Toby Poser
Starring Toby Poser, Zelda Adams, Lulu Adams, John Adams, Judy Rosen, Rob Figueroa, Rinzin Thonden

Back in 2019, I stumbled upon a film on Prime called The Deeper You Dig (2019) and decided to take a chance on it. It was a very simple story about a young girl who is killed by a hit and run driver, that to hide his crime, hides the body. What he didn’t expect would be the dead girl haunting him. A simple tale but one that had such a small cast, pretty much three actors, really delivered. But when I found out that not only were the three main actors were a husband-wife-daughter team, but they also co-directed the film, co-wrote it, and did just about every other job on the production, I was even more impressed. So, I kept them on my radar. Two years later, they released Hellbender, which not only had all three of them returning, but also their other daughter, Lulu Adams.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Alice, Sweet Alice

by in Reviews: Movies and tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

(1976)
Directed by Alfred Sole
Starring Paula E. Sheppard, Linda Miller, Rudolph Willrich, Brooke Shields, Mildred Clinton, Niles McMaster, Alphonso DeNoble, Jane Lowry

This film is one that everyone seems to know or remember, especially seeing the VHS tape, but for some reason it doesn’t seem to come up in a lot of conversations, especially when you are discussing the slasher genre. Keep in mind, this film came out two years after Bob Clark’s Black Christmas, but two years before John Carpenter’s Halloween. And yet, when talking about the slasher genre, and this film most certainly is a slasher film, it seems not to come up in those discussions. You have a mysterious, masked killer on the loose, dispatching their victims in a variety of ways, from stabbing, choking, to even throwing them out a window! And the blood flow is pretty excessive in some of these crimes.

Continue reading →

DtH Episode 80 – Blood Thirsty Trilogy

by in Discover the Horror Podcast and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Vampire Doll (1970), Lake of Dracula (1971), and Evil of Dracula (1974).

In the annals of Japanese horror cinema, this vampire trilogy from director Michio Yamamoto seems to be close to escaping into obscurity. In fact, try finding much more than a passing mention of these films in any reference books. But thanks to Arrow Video, all three of these films are at least saved from fading away in the sunlight like any good vampire, in one fantastic box set! Because these seemed to be on the outskirts of the vampire genre, we thought it would be a great opportunity for us to take a closer look at them, and to see if they need more attention. Listen and find out!

Films mentioned in this episode:

Continue reading →

Discover the Horror Episode 54: Box Sets

by in Discover the Horror Podcast and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Let’s face it: horror fans are, as a group, a little bit obsessive. When we sink our teeth into something we do not do it barely or easily, we take a big, honkin’ bite. If we become infatuated with a director, we want to see every film they’ve made, read a book about them, hear people talk about them, watch documentaries about them, and so on. And the same is true for national horror cinemas, regional American horror cinemas, important eras, actors, subgenres, and the like. And in recent years, a handful of visionary producers of physical media have recognized an opportunity in our longing and have invented and are currently inundating us with boxed sets. These comprehensive, exhaustive, wonderful monsters have become a gravitational center point for our genre. But just a handful of years ago they mostly didn’t exist or were announced only every few years. Nowadays, we get several per year from companies like Severin, Vinegar Syndrome, Indicator, Arrow, and Scream! Factory, just to name a few. So, we figured it was time for Discover the Horror to take a long look at the history and impact of these monolithic pieces of film history.

Movies mentioned:

Continue reading →

Arrow Unleashes Coffin Joe Box Set

by in Misc. Ramblings and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The number of box sets that are coming out lately, specializing on specific filmmakers is nothing short of amazing these days. And now, Arrow has announced Inside the Mind of Coffin Joe, a 6-disc set, featuring 10 films from this strange and bizarre filmmaker, that includes a TON of extras, as well as 4K restorations for all of the films! See below for all the details and then head over to our buddies at Diabolik DVD and pre-order your copy now! It is due out at the end of November.

Continue reading →

William Grefé Came from the Swamp

by in Misc. Ramblings and tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

There is a list of different filmmakers like Bill Rebane, Larry Buchanan, or Ted V. Mikels, that stayed away from Hollywood, making films on their own turf, with little or no money, but were still able to produce films that were entertaining. William Grefé was one of those, cranking out films made in Florida. Now thanks to Arrow Video, there is a box set of Grefé’s films coming out on Blu-ray this November that is a collection that I feel is a must for any fans of exploitation and drive-in features. The box set is going to feature 7 features, all newly restored from the best surviving film elements, in this one box set. The features are: Sting of Death (1966), Death Curse of Tartu (1966), The Hooked Generation (1968), The Psychedelic Priest (1971), The Naked Zoo (1971), Mako: Jaws of Death (1976) and Whiskey Mountain (1977). Haven’t heard of some of these? Well now is your chance to remedy that! I mean, how can you go wrong about a film that features a jellyfish man???

The set is going to be filled with extras to make any fan drool.  Amazon has it listed for $99.99, but you can pre-order it now from Diabolik DVD for only $59.99! Below is all the goodies in the set: Continue reading →

Movie Review: Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973)

by in Reviews: Movies and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

 

Death Smiles 4

Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973)
Directed by Joe D’Amato
Starring Ewa Aulin, Klaus Kinski, Angela Bo, Sergio Doria, Attilio Dottesio, Luciano Rossi

Italian icon Aristide Massaccesi, used so many different pseudonyms throughout his career, it’s tough to keep track of them. But the one name that he is most commonly known under is Joe D’Amato. This film here is his first real horror film as director, as well as co-writing it and being the cinematographer. It really does show his style, because he usually didn’t go for anything really flashy or outrageous, but still packed a punch.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: Lake of Dracula

by in Reviews: Movies and tagged , , , | Leave a comment

 

lake of dracula 3

Lake of Dracula (1971)
Directed by Michio Yamamoto
Starring Midori Fujita, Chôei Takahashi, Sanae Emi, Shin Kishida

Director Yamamoto returns a year after The Vampire Doll  with another vampire tale, this one a little more traditional when it comes to the Western influence. As a small child, little Akiko is chasing after her dog that wanders into an old house. Once she goes in, she comes face to face with a vampire, with yellow glowing eyes and wide mouth with fangs. Years later, Akiko is still feeling the trauma from that point in her childhood, and was convinced it was all a dream, even though she’s not too sure about it. Living by the lake with her sister, trouble starts again when a large white coffin is delivered to her neighbor who runs the boat house.

Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Vampire Doll (1970)

by in Reviews: Movies and tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

 

vampire doll 4

The Vampire Doll (1970)
Director Michio Yamamoto
Starring Kayo Matsuo, Akira Nakao, Atsuo Nakamura, Yukiko Kobayashi, Yôko Minakaze

In 1970, director Michio Yamamoto released the first film in what is now called the Blood Thirsty Trilogy, which has recently been released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video. They all have somewhat of a vampire theme to them, using the feeling of traditional gothic horror and the usual vampire trappings that was being made famous by Hammer studios in the UK, as well as in America. But these are kept in a modern day Japan setting and still putting their own little touches in there.

Continue reading →