Category: Home Video Releases

From Night of the Blood Beast, just what will Attack of the Giant Leeches Feast on? And a Future connection…

Could there be a connection with the types of scares made with Creepy Bits and Corman? Probably not with Night of the Blood Beast, but for the second film, read on to find out!

Night of the Blood Beast Blu-ray Release
Available to purchase on Amazon USA

The Film Masters latest double-feature is showing what producer Roger Corman loves about horrors from space and undersea. In Night of the Blood Beast (1958), humanity has to face off against some alien parasite that’s reanimated a dead astronaut. This pilot was aware something hit his craft, but when he aborted the flight, little did he know he had a rider back to earth!

I like to think of this film as a precursor to the way the 94 Spider-Man animated series introduced Venom. The tales are wildly different, but I couldn’t get that image off my mind! As for what’s special about this release is that it’s the most ‘complete’ of the releases. This includes the Mystery Science Theatre 3K episode where this film gets riffed upon. It’s a nice add-on for fans of this series. 

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[Interview] Steve Kostanski on Frankie Freako and The Love for Makeup FX!

“As much as I wanted to have way more elaborate stuff in Frankie Freako, puppet wise, the bottom line is it needed to be janky…” said Steve Kostanski.

Steve Kostanski and Frankie
Frankie Freako is available to purchase on Amazon USA.

Steve Kostanski always loved the magic that film offered at an early age, and when he was creating stop motion films in the garage, little would he know it would lead to a career in the special effects industry. While some people think of him as part of the Astron-6 collective, where they create 80s-centric, no-budget, mixed-genre movies, they have done independent works too, like this filmmaker has with Freddie Freako, to realise they’re a tight group says it all. His name is also there in The Void and Manborg, where he has co-director credit.

His efforts are to be commended since he loves the medium; he watched shows like Mega Movie Magic (1997-2004) on Discovery Channel to learn how film effects were created back then. And on that fateful day where he and his buddies saw Army of Darkness, he knew what he would do for the rest of his life!

“That was when it really clicked,” said Kostanski, as I interviewed him via Zoom. “For me, it seemed like they were normal guys having fun goofing around; except somehow it became accessible. What they made stopped being this nebulous idea from Hollywood and that led to me to seriously want to make it in the film industry.

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Shake It Up Now With Twisters on Home Video

And yes, it’s best to have an ATMOS sound system hooked up to fully experience Twisters as it was intended! You may want to duck too.

Twisters 4K Disc ReleaseNo scientific knowledge is required to understand what Twisters, the spiritual sequel to the 1996 film, are about. Since time has passed. I suspect most of those storm chasers have moved on. And to bring this IP back in today’s age and concerning Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) works in favour of why we love these films. I’m hoping this lead will lead to a new set of films about chasing after EF4 class tornadoes.

While I’m still waiting for a film about someone coming up with the idea to turn the American South East into a super tornado zone to belt out volcanic ash into space, perhaps the idea isn’t too far-fetched. Maybe that’s how the planetary ecosystem worked during a prior epoch. In this tale, Carter wants to reduce the intensity of these windstorms, but sadly her first experience caused the opposite effect! For half the film, she’s trying to deal with survivor’s remorse.

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When The Film Masters’ Creature with the Blue Hand and Web of the Spider has a Nosferatu Connection with Klaus Kinski….

It’s a dose of Halloween, 60s style! Are krimi films a precursor to the Slasher genre? The Film Masters latest release, Creature with the Blue Hand, offers an answer and gives fans a double dose of Klaus Kinski too!

Creature with the Blue Hand Blu-ray
Available to purchase on Amazon USA

The Film Masters know who to love and Creature With the Blue Hand offers fans of 60s cinema a double (or dare I say triple?) dose of Klaus Kinski. His fame peaked in the 60s because of his work in five of Werner Herzog’s most celebrated films. But in recognition of tomorrow, All Hallow’s Eve, hd did wonders in Nosferatu, the Vampire (Amazon purchase link). He played the seminal count in this update, and made this villain all the more terrifying.

In Creature with The Blue Hand, Dave Emerson (Kinski), a suitably deranged murderer, escapes from the asylum and decides that hiding out at his family estate is the best course of action. When his twin, Richard (also Kinski), arrives, there’s a chance to turn his life around. However, he’ll have to dispense with his brother! In this crime drama, the sequence of events that unfolds concerns catching the killer in the act, and that isn’t easy! What I’m seeing is a very dangerous cat-and-mouse game!

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In The Bad Guys Haunted Heist, What Can Go Horribly Wrong?

Between the two Halloween specials that are one-shots rather than as part of a series, The Bad Guys Haunted Heist isn’t too bad. It just needs more howl!

The Bad Guys Halloween HeistAlthough DreamWorks The Bad Guys isn’t the greatest work in their movie catalogue, I still wanted to see what this studio would dream up for this year’s special. When it’s simply labelled The Bad Guys Haunted Heist, I was morbidly curious.

Unlike this studio’s past works, which are enjoyable to watch, this latest lacks the spice that made past specials–Shrek: Thrilling Tales and Scared Shrekless, along with Monsters vs Aliens’ Mutant Pumpkins and Night of the Living Carrots–a joy to watch. These pieces were basically about the title characters celebrating the season and I always play the compilation release, Six Spooky Stories (Amazon link) when Halloween weeks rolls around. Hopefully there’ll be an update that will include the ones that are part of their animated series rollout (My favourite episode is “The Po Who Cried Ghost” from Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.

What The Bad Guys do is invert the formula from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and tell it from a villain’s perspective. To say who would have gotten away with it isn’t all that surprising, as I easily guessed how the tale would go.

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All The Deets on The Last Four Discs of All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror Volume Two

In part three of this mega-post looking at All The Haunts Be Ours Volume Two, the world tour continues to expand and show why Folk Horror is the best subgenre to get your spook on.

All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Of Folk Horror Vol. 2
Available to pre-order on Amazon USA

In the final post in our detailed breakdown on what’s included in All The Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium Vol 2, what’s offered is perhaps the most exciting to date! Curated and produced by Kier-La Janisse, this collector’s set is continues in what volume one has started. And although the documentary that started it all, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (review link), is not part of the set, that’s perfectly okay. Severin films assume everyone has the first set, and has a solid understanding in what makes folk horror great. Also, it’s the perfect treat following Halloween to keep enjoyment year-round!

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