Pulse quickening

By: BRIAN THOMAS
Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Unearthed Films, a distributor and video label with a reputation for bringing us some of the most cutting edge horror films (GUINEA PIG, AFTERMATH) and obscure cult favorites (ROCK & RULE), is back again with some exciting news. 2006 will see them getting involved in original productions. Unearthed President Stephen Biro says, "As you know, we strive to bring you the best in ultra hardcore splatter films. You can only guess what we have in store for you." Unearthed has a pair of Russian horror films ready to go on disc, and upcoming releases include a German Ultra Splatter Collection (including five films by Andreas Schnaas), the animated zombie gorefest CITY OF ROTT, a uncut special edition of Frank Hennenlotter's FRANKENHOOKER, and more hard core shockers from Japan.

Speaking of which, we have a Japanese shocker for you in our Prize Closet, courtesy of Magnolia . You can win a copy of PULSE if you send an email containing your name and address to psycho@psychotronic.info with "TAKE MY PULSE" in the subject line.

We also have three copies of DICK CAVETT SHOW: COMIC LEGENDS courtesy of Shout Factory. For this one, make the subject simply "CAVETT".

SPOTLIGHT OF THE WEEK

This week, our spotlight falls on one of the better Japanese horror films. Catch it before the US remake.

(O) PULSE (Magnolia) Kiyoshi Kurosawa (CURE) delivers another unnerving philosophical horror story about an epidemic of mysterious deaths linked to a supernatural computer virus. Includes featurette.

NEW RELEASES

(O) ACTION Complete Uncut Series (Sony) Jay Mohr stars as an unscrupulous Hollywood producer in this cult favorite comedy series which shocked some with its edgy sense of humor. 13 episodes on 2 discs.
(O) ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (Warner Bros.) Dramatization of how reporters Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman dug up the dirt that forced Nixon to leave office. Includes Redford commentrak, new and vintage featurettes and interviews and more.
(O) BURIED ALIVE (Lions Gate) Everybody gets swallowed up in a massive cave-in.
(O) CAVALCADE OF COMEDY: Paramount Comedy Shorts 1929-1933 (Kino) Sixteen Paramount comedy shorts of the early sound era include appearances by Burns & Allen, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Milton Berle and more.

(O) CERBERUS: THE GUARDIAN OF HELL (Lions Gate) Mercs steal Attila the Hun's magic sword, unleashing a curse in the form of a monstrous 3-headed dog which is kind of mixing mythologies, but you'll hardly care. It's a 3-headed monster dog!
(O) CLASS OF 1984 (Anchor Bay) Special edition of this 1981 high school battle flick includes commentrak, retrospective featurette and more.
(O) THE COMEBACK (Media Blasters) Crooner Jack Jones is haunted by the ghost of his murdered wife in this 1978 chiller (aka THE DAY THE SCREAMING STOPPED). Delayed from last month.
(O) CURIOUS OBSESSIONS (EI Cinema) Those Seduction Cinema folks reuse their cache of old peep show loops for this tale of a haunted 16mm film projector. Includes behind-the-scenes featurette, interview, deleted scene and more.
(O) DICK CAVETT SHOW: Comic Legends (Shout Factory) Cavett's interviews with Groucho Marx, Bob Hope, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis, George Burns, Bill Cosby and more.
(O) DOMINO (New Line) Tony Scott's horrendously pretentious, over-stylized fictionalization of the story of bounty hunter Domino Harvey, with chain-smoking instead of acting from star Keira Knightley. Widescreen and fullscreen editions include two commentraks, deleted footage, featurettes and more.
(O) FIRST DESCENT (Universal) Pretty cool documentary on snowboarders, including the famous Gold Medal winning Flying Tomato.
(O) GARUDA (Media Blasters) A tunnel excavation awakens a supernatural bird monster in this Thai epic. Delayed from last month.
(O) HOUSE OF 9 (Visual) Dennis Hopper and Kelly Brock are two of nine abducted strangers forced to play terrifying games for a hidden madman.
(O) KUNG FAUX Volume 1 (Tommy Boy/Koch) TV series takes old public domain Asian martial arts movies and re-edits them to 30 minutes with dubbed soundtracks by hip-hop celebrities.
(O) THE LAUREL OR HARDY COLLECTION (Passport) Twenty films on five discs that were made with the famed comedy team separately before they teamed up in 1926.
(O) LEFT OF THE DIAL (HBO) Documentary on the creation and early days of Air America Radio. Delayed from last month.
(O) THE LOVE MERCHANT / THE LAYOUT (Image) A swinging millionaire offers a struggling businessman a pile of cash in exchange for 48 hours of sex with his hottie wife in Joe Sarno's 1969 romp, ripped off by INDECENT PROPOSAL decades later. Plus another sick skin flick from the Something Weird Video vaults. Includes peepshow shorts, lots of trailers and more.
(O) THE MEMORY OF A KILLER (Sony) 2003 Belgian thriller in which an aging contract killer refuses to kill a little girl, then tries to hunt down whoever ordered the hit before Alzheimer's or the coppers - catch up with him.
(O) NYPD BLUE Season 3 (Fox) Includes commentraks and featurettes.
(O) ONE STEP BEYOND COLLECTION (Passport) Twenty episodes of the early supernatural anthology TV series on five discs. Delayed from 2/7.
(O) THE ORSON WELLES COLLECTION (Passport) 5-disc set includes THE STRANGER, KING LEAR, DAVID & GOLIATH, THE TRIAL and two documentaries on Welles. Delayed from 2/7.
(O) RENT (Sony) Why should you buy this musical when you can always borrow it in exchange for a fee? 2-disc widescreen and fullscreen editions with commentrak, feature Making-Of documentary, featurettes, deleted footage and more.
(O) ROBERT BENCHLEY AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ALGONQUIN (Kino) Humorist Benchley made his mark in movies starting with filmed versions of his goofy lectures for Fox, but later expanded into fuller short comedies for MGM. This disc collects eleven of Benchley shorts, plus three by his cohorts at the Algonquin Round Table.
(O) SHE MOB / NYMPHS ANONYMOUS (Image) A dominatrix takes over a criminal mob, then a nymphomaniac seeks professional help, in this pair of over-the-top (and under-the-bottom) '60s sexcapades from the vaults of Something Weird Video.
(O) THE SIMIAN LINE (Ardustry) When a fortune teller predicts one of three couples will split up, ghosts William Hurt and Samantha Mathis try to help keep the prophesy from becoming self-fulfilling.
(O) 3rd ROCK FROM THE SUN Season Three (Anchor Bay) All 27 episodes, including the 3-D episode, plus commentraks, bloopers, featurettes, interviews, booklet and more.
(O) 2069: A SEX ODYSSEY / RUN VIRGIN RUN (EI Cinema) Two 1970 German sex comedies. One about alien chicks invading Earth in search of sperm, the other about a town that credits a mysterious wind as an aphrodisiac.
(O) VICE SQUAD (Anchor Bay) A cop uses a sweet hooker as bait to trap a psycho killer in this gritty and violent 1982 grindhouse favorite. Includes director commentrak and more.
(O) VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA Season 1 Volume 1 (Fox) Goofy 1964 Irwin Allen sci-fi series about a super submarine, based on his movie.
(O) WATCH THE SKIES (Image) Triple bill of intergalactic paranoia, 1950s style: THE COSMIC MAN, THE FLYING SAUCER and STRANGER FROM VENUS.
(O) WATERBORNE (MTI) Disaster thriller in which terrorists contaminate the Los Angeles water supply. Hey, this doesn't have sugar in it, does it? Because I do not contaminate my body with that stuff. Includes interviews, behind-the-scenes and more.

UMD CORNER

(O) BOAT TRIP (Lions Gate) Leaky.
(O) FIRST DESCENT (Universal) Dude!
(O) KING OF NEW YORK (Lions Gate) Walken!
(O) MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL (Sony) Rabbit!
(O) RENT (Sony) Wah!

And be sure to check back next weekand every weekfor CINESCAPE's DVD Shopping List!

DVD Shopping List (© 2006 Brian Thomas) is our weekly DVD column. Brian Thomas is the author of the massive book VideoHound's DRAGON: ASIAN ACTION & CULT FLICKS, available now!

Questions? Comments? Let us know what you think at DVDShoppingList@cinescape.com.