Haven’t done this in a while, because of a lack of good stuff, but there are a number of items of interest this week…
Much earlier spot releases of various episodes of the absolutely terrific spy series I Spy, with Robert Culp and Bill Cosby, are finally being supplanted with season sets for the show’s three seasons. Even if you bought some of those, as I did, it’s hard to go wrong getting a set that offers 28 ‘hour’ long episodes, more than 23 hours of material for $13. Hell, the entire run of the show, all 82 episodes on 15 discs, would run only $43. Seriously, highly recommended. This was a great show. Non-buyers should check the program out at Netflix or whatever.
Door into Darkness seems to be a four part Italian ’70s TV horror show directed by Dario Argento. Details here.
The Incredible Hulk Seasons 3 and 4. Now that these are out, maybe they can release Bill Bixby’s fun, earlier The Magician?
Lone Wolf & Cub: 1973 Japanese TV show based on the classic samurai manga.
More TV: Beverly Hill 90210 S4; Burke’s Law S1, Vol 1; Cheers S9; The Waltons S7.
Classic Media releases two more (admittedly minor) Godzilla movies today, in their usual deluxe formatting that offers both the Japanese and dubbed American versions of the films, along with commentaries and other bonuses. And hey, the price is right. The films this time include All Monsters Attack (aka Godzilla’s Revenge), a weird little kitchen sink piece about a bullied kid who fantasizes adventures with Baby Godzilla on Monster Island. Meanwhile, Terror of Mechagodzilla is the last film of Inshiro Honda, who directed the original Gojira, and the one with Titanosaurus. These kiddies Godzilla movies are, admittedly, an acquired taste, but again, given the job Classic Media does with these movies, you almost want to buy them just to pay them back for their efforts.
Criterion this week offers three classic children’s shorts in separate, reasonably priced editions: Paddle to the Sea, The White Mane, and the justly renowned The Red Balloon.
Asylum, the company that makes often awful complete knock-offs of current blockbusters for the DVD home market, today releases Allan Quatermain and the Temple of Skulls. Really, do we need a cheapie Speed Racer rip-off already? Anyway, I can’t wait for Scott Foy’s review.
Beast in Space: Here’s an interesting thing. There’s two version of this film, one a regular Italian space opera, another with hardcore porn inserts. Each version gets a separate edition, and a review covering both can be found here. This looks bad enough to review, but I’m too cheap to buy one (much less both), and Netflix doesn’t currently carry either. In anyone buys one, or both, and is willing to let me borrow it/them for reviewing purposes, let me know.
Delirium: Italian horror flick from the good folks at Blue Underground. Co-stars Mickey “Bloody Pit of Horror” Hargitay.
Don’t Go in the Woods Alone: 25th Anniversary Edition: Code Red provides this newer, much more elaborate edition of a no doubt typical ’80s slasher ‘classic.’ This is a loaded disc in any case, with two commentaries and an hour-long cast and crew retrospective.
Anthony Mann’s 1964 Fall of the Roman Empire boasts a huge name cast (James Mason, Omar Shariff, Alec Guiness, Sophia Loren, etc.) and now a 2 disc edition replaces what was supposedly a woefully bad earlier disc. Features an audio commentary and lots of documentaries.
Killing Car: A Jean Rollins film that is “Truly bizarre and with more killings than the French revolution, Killing Car is a surreal thriller featuring ghosts, prostitutes and a used car salesman.”
Schizo: ’70s brutal English horror by cult director Pete Walker.
