Thursday, May 5, 2016

New Release Tuesdays of the Past



There has been some great releases this past month and I am way behind on the blog because I have been watching some of these, it’s baseball season, I finally signed up for Nextflix (more on that later), and sometimes life gets in the way.  Let’s ketchup for the month:



This was well worth the 32 year wait.  When the end credits rolled on Jedi I was in the third grade and I could not wait until the next sequel, repeat sequel not prequel.  I had no idea it would be this long.  This 32 year gap between sequels beats the record of 22 years between Psycho 1 and 2 and 20 years between Rambo 3 and Rambo 4.  This movie was great and it washes out the bad tastes of the prequels.  I really don’t care it was technically, maybe a remake because it was an awesome time at the theater.  It was especially nice to see the old cast reunited together on the big screen and best of all the Millennium Falcon is back!  Also the new cast of characters is really good and refreshing as I look forward to see what they bring in Episode 8.  Now, bring on Rogue One!



A frontiersman, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after he is mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.  This was awesome.  The cinematography and directing were definitely the best of the year as this is just one of the best movies you ever lay your eyes on.  I have never been much of a Leo fan but he sure does a great job of conveying the pain, tragedy, and loss he experiences during the film.



My Dad had to sneak me into the drive-inn to see this since it was labeled with the dreaded rating of NR so that meant no kids allowed.  We had previously seen the original at the drive-inn earlier in the summer. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was in regular rotation at Texas drive-inns back then and I could not find it at any video store so that is how I experienced the original before the sequel came out.  Boy, are they two totally different movies and this sequel was a bit of a disappointment when I first viewed it.  I think most people thought that way too.  The first was a shocking horror movie, already considered to rank among the all-time horror classics and the latter went a different direction and was a comedy.  At the time it turned a lot horror fans off but over time this sequel has turned into a cult classic and is very much appreciated today.  Original Chainsaw director Tobe Hooper returned for the sequel and intended for it to be different but the audience just did not get it upon its release.  This is a top notch release from Scream Factory as the film looks awesome and I still have not got thru all the special features yet, highly recommended.



A small town's women give birth to unfriendly alien children posing as humans.  I sure miss John Carpenter making movies as I kind of liked this remake of the 1960 original with great special effects from ILM.  It is also nice to see stars like the late Christopher Reeve and Mark Hamill back on the big screen.



Every once in a while I include a music release if it is worth mentioning and John Carpenter’s Lost Themes II is well worth the mention.  Last year Carpenter released Lost Themes which is exactly what it sounds like, a bunch of music never used in his movies.  I love all of Carpenter’s music in his movies and these releases are great, now I wish he would just get back to directing movies.



I remember the posters to these horror movies and I had no idea the late, great Anthony Perkins was in Destroyer so this is a nice double feature pack from Scream Factory.  Edge of Sanity is a nice turn on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but it also has Mr. Hyde being portrayed as the Jack the Ripper as it is not a bad horror flick.  I have never seen Destroyer but I wonder was the late Oakland Raiders great Lyle Alzado was removed from the cover?



Doctors Herbert West and Dan Cain discover the secret to creating human life and proceed to create a perfect woman from dead tissue.  I loved the original and I knew there was a sequel but I just never heard anything about it so I assumed it was not very good so I have never checked this out even though I own a copy on one of those $5 horror six packs.  Arrow put out a new, U.S. release of this on blu so I finally decided to check this out and it is on almost par with the original with Herbert and Dan back up to their old tricks.  This was very entertaining.




DC Animated movies are killing it compared to DC live action movies right now.  This movie continues with the Damian Wayne Robin from the last three Batman animated flicks as Robin is sent to work with the Teen Titans after his volatile behavior botches up a Justice League mission. The Titans must then step up to face Trigon after he possesses the League and threatens to conquer the world.  There are some very good supplements on the history of the Teen Titans on here that are worth viewing too.

A boy who has a bad Christmas ends up accidentally summoning a Christmas demon to his family home.  This was not the horror movie I thought it was as last year’s A Christmas Horror Story was much better than this half horror-comedy romp.  Now don’t get me wrong this is not bad I was just expecting something different especially from the director of Trick ‘r Treat.


I really liked these shorts when I was a kid and I am so thankful Kino has decided to release these on blu.  These are high up on the Wish List.

Arrow Video is releasing this 1985 classic about A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation. But the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world.  I will need to make the upgrade sometime to this good stuff.

John Dillinger (The late, great Warren Oates) and his gang go on a bank robbing spree across the Midwest, but one G-Man (Ben Johnson) is determined to bring him down.   This is a nod to Bonnie and Clyde and is written and directed by the great, John Milius.  It has a killer supporting cast consisting of Harry Dean Stanton, Cloris Leachman, Geoffrey Lewis, and Richard Dreyfuss.

You don’t say it and you make the sound, sssssss.  This is a great cheesy movie about a crazy scientist (Strother Martin) turning one of his students (Dirk “Faceman” Benedict) into a snake. Good stuff too.










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