April 29, 2008 - New Horror available on DVD today

At first glance, it looked like there were a lot of new horror flicks out today, but... after further review, the bulk of them are useless rereleases. However, there are some new ones out there, plus a few notable rereleases. I'd like to also mention that Dead Harvey now has a Youtube channel where we will have the trailers for the current new releases of the week up and we hope to do that each week... also, as usual, you can click on the films links below to purchase them from Amazon.

"Headless Horseman" is, yet again, another Sci-Fi Channel film, this one first aired in October, 2007 and is directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, who got his start in special effects, having worked as the special makeup effects supervisor on such films as: "The Dentist", "Progeny", "Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies" and "Faust, Love of the Damned". His only other feature length directorial effort was "Boo", which was nominated for Best DVD Release at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in 2006. "Headless Horseman" is, obviously, based on the legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman, however this film sets the record straight. According to this, the Washington Irving story was a little 'white-washed' and the events that take place here are the real deal. Oh... and if you're wondering whatever happened to Richard "Bull from Night Court" Moll, he's one of the stars.

"In The Blood" was written, directed and edited by Lou Peterson for the Logo Network, which is, yes... the lesbian and gay network from MTV. Logo, in itself, is kind of a cool concept, not because of their content, but in how they deliver it. It's a network that you can get on regular cable, by VOD, watch online, download, buy programming on DVD and even get on your phone. That's pretty 'ahead of the curve' and big networks should start shifting to this business model to leverage their properties and, I just heard today, that Warner Bros. is kinda doing this by moving The WB online, but I digress... "In The Blood" is about a guy, struggling with his sexuality, who happens to go to a college where there's been a string of co-ed murders and his sister, who also attends the school, fits the victim profile. Further, he's having vivid dreams of his sister covered in blood and his player buddy making moves on her. I haven't seen it, but almost every review says the end is shocking... and not necessarily in a good way. In a, 'where the hell did that come from' kinda way, which sorta makes me want, just to see what the hell they're talking about... and there's nothing wrong with that.

"Knock, Knock" was first screened around a year ago, May 7th, 2007, at Fangoria's Monster Mondays screening, to be exact and six months later, it was picked up by Grindstone/Mandate Pictures for distribution through Lionsgate Home Entertainment. It was written, produced and directed by Joseph Ariola, which explains why the trailer says 'Ariola Productions presents', here I thought it was a spelling mistake and a reference to boobs. It's a typical, retro-slasher flick and reviews are decent. Ariola's written, produced and directed a few other projects, but this is, I believe, his most ambitious to date.

"Karaoke Terror: The Complete Japanese Showa Songbook" was known as "showa kayo daizenshu" in its native Japan and it was written by Ryu Murakami, who's the same guy who wrote Takashi Miike's "Audition". This is your classic, over the top, extremely gory, Japanese satirical, twisted tale. However, you have to love the premise... a gang of karaoke loving middle aged women and a gang of young, slacker guys go at it against each other, first with knives... then guns... and eventually with rocket launchers... and beyond. The originality that comes out of that nation, I swear...

That's really it for new releases, so... I'm going to tell you about the rereleases because there's actually some good ones coming out.

First off, old Lloyd Kaufman must not have made a fortune off of "Poultrygeist", as we're getting both "The Complete Toxic Avenger" and "Make Your Own Damn Movie: Young Filmmakers Series, Vol. 1 - Pot Zombies" this week. There really has to be a soft spot in every indie horror filmmaker for the Troma stuff, bless the studio that brought us "Tromeo and Juliet" and "Surf Nazis Must Die". Who can claim to not like what they do? Either way, the Toxie movies are classics and there's a lot that can be learned from his whole "Make Your Own Damn Movie" stuff, so... there you go.

There's also a few grindhouse classics being rereleased, including: Umberto Lenzi's "Nightmare City", Pasquale Festa Campanile's "Hitch Hike" and the, 'banned in many countries' classic, Lucio Fulci's "The New York Ripper". I have the trailers for these up on our Youtube channel, you should check them out.