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DVD Releases: 01/31/2006
By John Marrone
Jan 30, 2006, 22:46

Madness may overcome me...  I hunger for raw violence and gushing blood and come to the surface amidst sunlight and horrifically happy retailers, only to find that my Black Tuesday has been blaphemed with animation and reduced to subtitles.  Else it is the color-faded imagery of movies released several times before.  Another exorcism of another demented femme - or titles for which cover art can not even be found.  Tis the week to fill all the nooks with the weird and the unwanted I suppose - the old and the older - the rerun and the rereleased.  Nevermind me, as I gather Cannibal Holocaust, The Thing, and my Friday the 13th's, and return to my mouldy, blood-stained, lightless basement for another seven days.  Sort this week's crop amongst yourselves as you will... 

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (2005)
77 minutes

PG for some scary images and action, and brief mild language
Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson
Directed by Tim Burton, Mike Johnson

Add this to your Halloween video lineup, right in there next to The Nightmare Before Christmas, as Tim Burton once again enlists Johnny Depp and breaks out with another death movie thats fun for the whole family.  Despite its $40 million dollar budget, this movie was a success, drawing $112 million worldwide.

Yahoo Movies:  Set in a 19th century European village, young Victor is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride, while his real bride, Victoria, waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love.

DVD features include:  Subtitles (English, French, Spanish), multi-language Dolby 5.1 Audio tracks, the trailer, music-only track, pre-prodcution galleries, and SEVEN featurettes (including "Inside Two Worlds", "Danny Elfman Interprets the Two Worlds", "The Animators: The Breath of Life", "Tim Burton: Dark vs. Light", "Voices From the Underworld", "Making Puppets Tick", and whew! "The Voices Behind the Voice").

Click here to get it from Amazon.com (full screen format)

Dark Shadows DVD Collection 22 (1966)
840 minutes

Unrated
Starring Joan Bennett, Louis Edmonds, Kathryn Leigh Scott
Directed by Dan Curtis, Pennberry Jones

Amazon.com Description:  In the year 1995, Barnabas and Dr. Julia Hoffman wonder what has happened to the Collins family when they find the Collinwood estate abandoned and in ruins. They learn that both Carolyn Stoddard and Quentin Collins have gone insane. Barnabas witnesses the ghost of Gerard Stiles and realizes that Julia is under the spirit's power. In 1970, the ghost of Daphne Harridge, a nineteenth century governess, appears to Quentin, who locates her diary in the west wing. Barnabas is stunned when he meets astrologist Sebastian Shaw's assistant, Roxanne Drew, who is identical to the Roxanne that Barnabas knew in parallel time. When Julia discovers fang marks on Maggie Evans' neck, Barnabas assures her that he is not responsible and vows to find the vampire who attacked Maggie. David Collins and Hallie Stokes become possessed by the spirits of Tad Collins and Carrie Collins from 1840. Dan Curtis (Burnt Offerings, Dead of Night) partially writes and directs.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com

  Let Me Die a Woman (1978)
79 minutes

Rated X
Starring Dr. Leo Wollman, Leslie, Deborah Harten
Directed by Doris Wishman

IMDB Plot Summary:  A documentary on the work of sex-change specialist Dr.Leo Wollman, including interviews with Dr.Wollman and a few of his patients, with an illustrated lecture on the various aspects of transsexuality plus actual footage of a sex-change operation, which is what gives the film its notoriety.

I have seen pieces of this film, but could never sit through it in its entirety.  Its rated X for a reason.  This sick flick shows the 70's version of the sex change operation, which was a rough-cut of today's.  Dr. Wollman in one part even opens and explores some of the so-called new ladies - things do not look how you'd expect, and it is not for the easily offended.  The sex scenes are soft-porn.  This is a direct look at a bizarre and early form of plastic surgery that leaves about nothing to the imagination and in turn becomes a one-of-its-kind horror documentary you'll never forget.

DVD features include:  Dolby 2.1 and mono English audio tracks, a rare alternate opening credit sequence, and commentary by director Doris Wishman, archivist Michael Bowen, and star Leslie.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com

Virgins From Hell (1987)
185 minutes

Unrated
Starring virgins from Hell
Directed by (unlisted)

Amazon.com Description:  A double disc limited edition set of one of the wildest movies ever to come out of Asia. The action kicks off with a girl biker gang clad in leather hot pants raiding a casino drug den... and then it gets crazy. the gang is led by two girls who were forced to watch as the leader of the drug syndicate murdered their parents and stole their land. To take revenge they train a gang of hot biker babes to take on Mr Tiger - the bad guy. Unfortunately they lose the battle and are incarcerated in a womens prison camp - playthings of the camps vicious lesbian wardress. But worse - they are to be used as guinea pigs for an aphrodisiac drug designed to turn all women into helpless sex slaves!

Its an Indonesian exploitation film, and no Im not kidding.

DVD features include:  This is a two-disc set.  The first disc has the brand new 2.35:1 16-9 transfer from original vault materials, the theatrical trailer, "Women In Prison Movies - An essay by Pete Tombs", and a Mondo Macabro preview reel.  The second disc contains over 70 minutes of ultra rare trailers from kings of Indonesian exploitation - Rapi Films, and a documentary on Indonesian exploitation films.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com

When a Stranger Calls (1979)
99 minutes

Rated R
Starring Charles Durning, Carol Kane, Colleen Dewhurst
Directed by Fred Walton

The call is coming from inside the house!  Who can forget the chilling first half of When a Stranger Calls - the original with Carol Kane - when the police are on the phone and the shadow emerges from up those stairs.  Listed at number 28 on Bravo's list of all time scariest movie moments, here it is for all its reputation once more, reissued to coincide with the 2006 version which is coming February 3rd.

IMDB Plot Summary:  High school student Jill Johnson is traumatized over an evening of babysitting by a caller who repeatedly asks, "Have you checked the children lately?" After notifying the police, Jill is told that the calls are coming from inside the house...

Click here to get it from Amazon.com

Stephen King's Autopsy Room Four (2003)
22 minutes

Unrated
Starring Stephen Furst, Torri Higginson, Michael Bergin
Directed by Stephen Zakman

IMDB Plot Summary:  Autopsy Room Four, based on the first short story in Stephen King's bestselling novel, Everything's Eventual, tells of a man who just wants to take a break from his busy work schedule and play some golf. However, when he is bitten by a rare snake, his life definitely takes a turn for the worse.

Click here to get it from Amazon.com

OTHER DVD RELEASES THIS WEEK:

Garuda (Paksa Wayu) (2004)  get it here
Terror in the Tropics (2005)  get it here
The Comeback (1979)  get it here
Exorcism: The Possession of Gail Bowers (2006)  get it here