Arrow to release "Nekromantik 2" special edition BD/DVD combo

Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the UK Blu-ray and DVD release of the notorious sequel to the underground shocker Nekromantik. Jörg Buttgereit’s "Neckromantik 2" arrives in time for Christmas on 23rd November 2015.

 

One of 2015’s most anticipated Arrow Video releases, "Nekromantik 2" makes its home video debut in the UK as an exclusive 3-disc digipak featuring Blu-ray, DVD and CD Soundtrack. This exclusive set will be limited to a run of only 3000 copies only and comes with a set of 5 x exclusive ‘Polaroid’ postcards and a 100-page book, alongside a wealth of extra features.

 

This 3-disc set comes loaded with exclusive director-approved content including the main feature "Nekromantik 2" (1991) and will feature brand new extras especially produced for this release, chief among them, the documentary Masters of Life and Death, alongside new audio commentaries and introductions from director Buttgereit and other key members of the cast and crew including Monika M. Further details listed below.

 

Synopsis

 

Monika isn’t like other young women. She shares her small flat with Rob, a recently disinterred corpse which serves as the object of her affections. But then she meets good-natured Mark, and soon finds herself torn between the prospect of a ‘normal’ life with a living, breathing partner and her overwhelming desire for her rotting bed-fellow.

 

Once prosecuted in its native Germany for “glorifying violence”, Jörg Buttgereit’s follow-up to his ground-breaking Nekromantik is just as shocking as its reputation would suggest. But it’s also a profoundly moving (if decidedly twisted) love story, and a thought-provoking meditation on death – that most mysterious aspect of the human condition.

 

Special Features

 

3-DISC DIRECTOR-APPROVED LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

 
· New High Definition transfer approved by director Jörg Buttgereit
· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
· Original Stereo 2.0 audio (uncompressed PCM on the Blu-ray)
· Optional English subtitles
· Limited Edition packaging featuring new artwork by Gilles Vranckx
· Individually-numbered #/3,000 Certificate
· Set of 5 exclusive “polaroid” postcards
· Soundtrack CD
· Limited Edition 100-page book
 
DISC 1 [BLU-RAY] & DISC 2 [DVD] – NEKROMANTIK 2
 
·Audio commentary with Buttgereit, co-writer Franz Rodenkirchen and actors Monika M. and Mark Reeder
·Introduction to the film with Buttgereit, Reeder, Monika M. and producer Manfred Jelinski
·Masters of Life and Death – a brand new documentary looking at the film’s production and release history, featuring interviews with Buttgereit, Reeder, Monika M. and Jelinski
·City of the Loving Dead – a walking tour of some of the original Berlin locations with Reeder and Jelinski
·Necropolis: Jörg Buttgereit’s Berlin – film scholar Dr. Marcus Stiglegger on the significance of the German capital as the backdrop for Nekromantik 2
·The Making of Nekromantik 2 – vintage documentary viewable with two different audio tracks: an English track comprising audio interviews with Buttgereit, Rodenkirchen and Monika M., and a German track featuring radio interviews with Buttgereit and Rodenkirchen, with optional English subtitles
·Nekro Waltz: The Music of Nekromantik 2 – Reeder discusses his work on the film’s score
·Outtakes Reel
·Nekromantik 2 Livekonzert – footage from the 20th anniversary Nekromantik 2 concert, with Monika M. and friends performing the live score
·Nekromantik 2 Livekonzert – the complete 20-track audio recording of the concert [BD/DVD-ROM content]
· Two Buttgereit short films: Bloody Excess in the Leader’s Bunker (Blutige Exzesse im Führerbunker, 1982) and A Moment of Silence at the Grave of Ed Gein (2012)
· Two Buttgereit-directed music videos: ‘Rise Up’ by Die Krupps (1997), starring Monika M., and ‘Die Frau in der Musik’ by Stereo Total (2007)
· Complete collection of Buttgereit feature film trailers
· Extensive image gallery
 
DISC 3 [CD] – NEKROMANTIK 2 SOUNDTRACK – LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE
 
· 24-track CD featuring the complete Nekromantik 2 score
 
100-PAGE BOOK– ‘ANATOMY OF DESIRE’ – LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE
 
· Exclusive perfect-bound book featuring new writing from Electric Sheep editor Virginie Sélavy, writer Kier-La Janisse and others, as well as a new translation of the article submitted to the German government as part of the Nekromantik 2 prosecution case, all illustrated with new artwork and original archive stills

Pre-order the BD/DVD combo pack from Amazon.co.uk

Celebrate 30 years of "Day of the Dead" with new Fright-Rags collection

30 years ago, George A. Romero unleashed the darkest day of horror the world has ever known: "Day of the Dead". Fright-Rags is honouring the zombie classic with a collection of exclusive apparel.

 

The line includes five new shirts. Steve Holliday, Francis Minoza, Chris Lovell, Paul Shipper and Dave Moscati each offer a distinct take on the film's iconic imagery. Several designs prominently feature fan-favorite zombie Bub, among of other ghouls.

The "Day of the Dead" collection is available now. All five designs are in stock (in both unisex and girls shirts) and ready to ship, but quantities are limited and may sell out.

Order these designs at Fright-Rags.com

 

Fans who missed out on Fright-Rags' recent Trick 'r Treat collection will be pleased to know that reprints are currently available for pre-order

 

VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN - Brand New Clip

Twentieth Century Fox is pleased to present a brand new clip for the release of Victor Frankenstein.

 

 

 

Starring James McAvoy and Daniel Radcliffe, this fresh take on Mary Shelley's classic story is brought to you by director Paul McGuigan (Gangster #1, Push, Sherlock) and is written by Max Landis (Chronicle).

 

Victor Frankenstein will be released in UK cinemas on December 3rd.

 

 

Gunnar Hansen - The original "Leatherface" - RIP

It is with a heavy heart that we report that Gunnar Hansen, the man who played the chainsaw wielding killer Leatherface in Tobe Hoopers seminal 1974 slasher “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” passed away this weekend, aged 68.

 

 

Originally from Iceland , he spent most of his life growing up in Texas when his family relocated to the US during the 1950s. During his time at University he got involved with theatre work, so when he heard about a movie being shot in Austin during the summer of 1973, decided to go to the auditions. His height and stature saw him landing the iconic role of the films main killer “Leatherface”, a retarded, cannibal who wore masks of human flesh and enjoyed butchering teenagers, that passed by his family’s remote farmhouse.

 

The film was considered so shocking by UK censors, the film was banned from general release at the cinema and on video until 1999, some 25 years later. Only finally seeing the light of day when the previous chief censor, James Ferman, finally retired.

 

Hansen’s role lead to him appearing in a string of B-movies over the years, eager to cash in on his status as a cult horror icon, including Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Hellblock 13, Murder Set Pieces and Chainsaw Sally. He did not reprise his role in any of the original Chainsaw sequels, owing to the film makers reluctance to pay reasonable rates for the gruelling work involved in the role. However, he did appear in 2013s Texas Chainsaw 3D, a belated alternate sequel to the original 74 film, in which he played another family member of the murderous chainsaw clan.

 

Despite numerous film offers, he chose to concentrate on a career in writing. Working on magazines, authoring books and doing screenplays. However, to horror fans everywhere he will always be remembered as the original Leatherface, and was a regular on the convention circuit.

 

He died Nov 7th at his home in Maine after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer.

 

RIP Leatherface, and thanks for the movies.

 

 

Arrow Video announces "American Horror Project"

Arrow Video is pleased to announce the "American Horror Project", a new series of box-sets which sees a variety of rarely seen and long-forgotten cult horror films being restored and returned from obscurity and risk of being lost forever due to fragility of original film material.

 

 

American Horror Project will ensure that these unique slices of the American Nightmare are brought back into the public consciousness and preserved for all to enjoy in brand new High Definition transfers from the best surviving elements.

 

The first volume of the series will be released Feb 22nd (UK) and 23rd (US) 2016, with Arrow Video committed to bringing these lesser-known efforts of US genre cinema back into the limelight where they belong.

 

Volume I of this series presents three tales of violence and madness from the 1970s. "Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood" (Christopher Speeth, 1973) sees a family arrive at a creepy, dilapidated fairground in search of their missing daughter, only to find themselves at the mercy of cannibalistic ghouls lurking beneath the park. Meanwhile, "The Witch Who Came from the Sea" (Matt Cimber, 1976), stars Mollie Perkins (The Diary of Anne Frank) as a young woman whose bizarre and violent fantasies start to bleed into reality – literally. Lastly, every parent’s worst nightmare comes true in "The Premonition" (Robert Allen Schnitzer, 1976), a tale of psychic terror in which five-year-old Janie is snatched away by a strange woman claiming to be her long-lost mother.

 

Newly remastered from the best surviving elements and contextualised with brand new supplementary material, with American Horror Project we can re-evaluate an alternative history of American horror and film heritage.

 

American Horror Project is a story of the unsung heroes of American horror cinema – films from the USA’s golden age of terror which, for a multitude reasons, have either slipped through the cracks or never gained the recognition they so richly deserve. Films that aren’t mentioned by movie fans in the same hushed tones of reverence as The Exorcist or Halloween – but are every bit as bold, bloody and bizarre as their more famous counterparts.

 

In much the same way that Stephen Thrower’s landmark study NIGHTMARE USA told an alternative history of the independent horror film during the 1970s and 80s, Arrow’s Horror Project aims to shine a light on a number of innovative and provocative films made during this period that for whatever reason, have been allowed to languish, under-appreciated and waiting to be rediscovered.

 

The majority of these films haven’t been seen for many years, and none of them will have ever been remastered for Blu-ray before. In some cases, they will have only been available on VHS!

 

So for every one of our titles, we’ll be restoring these films from scratch, seeking out the best existing source elements and (whenever possible) involving the original filmmakers to ensure that the films can be seen at the highest quality and in most historically accurate presentations possible. In many cases this may mean extensive detective work and piecing the films back together from a number of separate elements, given the lack of care that some of these titles suffered back in the day. Most of these films will never appear pristine, but viewed in the context of the Horror Project, will reflect their own unique production and distribution histories in a way that they’ve never been afforded before.

 

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"The Stranger" - UK DVD review

The Eli Roth produced horror “The Stranger”, from director Guillermo Amoedo (Aftershock, The Green Inferno) is out on VOD and DVD this month.

A mysterious stranger (Cristobal Tapia Montt) drifts into a small Canadian town, looking for a girl named Anna. However, he is promptly set about by a group of thugs, who beat him senseless. As one of the thugs happens to be the son of a local police lieutenant (Luis Gnecco), and believing the man to be dead, his father helps them cover up the crime.

But when the body goes missing, and the three thugs end up either dead, or hospitalised, the following night. The corrupt cop suspects a local graffiti artist (Nicolas Duran), who witnessed the earlier beating, may have had something to do with this.

 

But when the Stranger then intervenes in a confrontation between the cop and the young lad, we discover not only is he alive and well, despite being close to death the previous night, but also appears impervious to gunfire. As the cop quickly finds out…

Seems there’s something in his blood that allows him to heal quickly, which is of particular interest to the corrupt cop, whose son is in hospital. So the young lad and his mother quickly find themselves embroiled in his personal vendetta as he attempts to track him down and either kill him or catch him.

This one is a bit of a slow burner, being more of a dark drama than anything. But is also a strangely compelling tale in which you’re never quite sure what the deal is with the main character and how he seems almost impossible to kill, which makes the film all the more intriguing. Things kick up a gear towards the end, when we find being infected with the strangers blood has dire ramifications and we discover what it is about him that makes him so unique, but I’m not going to spoil the mystery for you.

The film is out on UK VOD now, with a UK DVD to follow on the 16th. The screener copy I viewed did not contain any supplemental material and no news if there will be any additional features included on the DVD.

 

View the trailer on YouTube

 

Pre-order the UK DVD from Amazon.co.uk

 

Steve Oram's "Aaaaaaaah"! nominated for BIFA

Steve Oram's "Aaaaaaaah!" has been nominated for the Discovery Award at this year's British Independent Film Awards.

 

Alpha male Smith and his Beta, Keith, move to take over a local community. They hook up with restless Female, Denise, igniting a deadly feud in which emotions run high and deep-seated grudges resurface amongst the tribe. Are we not men? Or are we simply beasts?

 

Steve Oram, actor/writer of Sightseers and Kill List fame, stars in his long-awaited directorial debut feature with a host of his friends. Get ready for the most unusual celluloid primal scream - an anarchistic, hilarious, disturbing and touching look at the human condition.

 

I caught this one at the Mayhem film festival earlier this year and can say, it's certainly one of the weirdest films I've seen this year. You can read my review of it, and other films screened that day, HERE. And there's a Q&A with Steve Oram available on my YouTube channel HERE

 

"Aaaaaaaah!" is currently available on Digital HD from the FrightFest Presents label

 

For a full list of BIFA nominations please visit https://www.bifa.film/awards/nominations