News

Updated 5/4/2003

Welcome to the SGM News Page, here we'll try our best to bring together the latest news and and gossip from all over the genre related movie scene.

As well as the latest hot happenings we'll do our best to keep you up to date with the latest release dates as we receive them and don't forget to keep coming back or join up for the SGM Mailing List and we'll make sure to let you know of any updates as they happen.

Following our previous report on Mondo Macabro's plans for world domination, we're pleased to report that as well as launching two excellent US DVD debuts in the form of special editions of 'Alucarda' and 'The Diabolical Dr Z' (on the 25th of April) UK fans needn't feel left out as following the releases of the wild 'Mystics in Bali' and 'The Nude Princess' we can expect in May an uncut widescreen presentation of the rarely seen shocker 'Death Walks At Midnight'. As a teaser of our incoming reviews of all the new Mondo Macabro titles click here for an exclusive first look at the forthcoming US DVD release of 'The Diabolical Dr Z' - enjoy! Meantime get your orders in for these must have releases at a special price direct from Mondo Macabro UK here and Mondo Macabro USA here.

Well it's not long now till SGM's favourite horror film festival 'Dead by Dawn' celebrates it's 10th anniversary and boy is this shaping up to be an absolute cracker.

Those of you there early on Friday can enjoy the launch frenzy of THQ's new Evil Dead game 'A Fistful of Boomstick' with a special screening of the film that started it all and there'll be game pods around the venue so you can have a go at the game. Bruce Campbell fans can also salivate at the life size Ash statue brandishing a chainsaw signed by the man himself and one very lucky festivalgoer will have the opportunity to win the whole caboodle!

The festival kicks off proper on Friday night with a surprise movie that will be introduced by everyone's favourite razor gloved psycho Robert (Freddy) Englund then on Saturday afternoon you can kick back with J T Petty's disturbing shocker 'Soft For Digging', the Chilean nightmare movie 'Sangre Eterna' and the always entertaining 'Cutting Edge' short film competition.

As Saturday evening approaches Robert Englund will be on hand for a meet and greet signing session which will be followed by the short film 'Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl' and Lucky McKee's gorgeous 'May'. For those of you with a large stamina the all-night marathon this year is running from Saturday midnight to Sunday at noon kicking off with the much anticipated 'Beyond Reanimator' which will be followed by (amongst other surprise treats) the short shocker 'Cry', a special screening of 'Near Dark', the Bruce Campbell produced 'Hatred of a Minute' (which stars Gunnar Hansen) and the no-budget Argentinean zombie fest 'Zombie Plague: Mutant Zone'.

If you're still alive by Sunday afternoon then you can check out the Asian anthology flick 'Thr3e', the Spanish splatterthon 'Mucha Sangre', parts one and two of 'Gone Bad' and the Australian zombie epic 'Undead'. 'Dog Soldiers' director Neil Marshall will also be around to discuss his fan favourite werewolf gem. On Sunday night the festival closes in great style with a special screening of Don Coscarelli's stunning 'Bubba Ho-Tep' - yes Bruce 'Elvis' Campbell, the mummy and laughs a plenty!

And don't forget there's plenty of great food and drink available throughout the event with the venue bar being open each night till 3am (and if you're in town on the Thursday night then there's a pre-fest club night at 'Citrus' on Grindlay Street and anyone with a fest pass gets in free) and all weekend there'll be traders selling their wares and stacks of very cool give away prizes!

'Dead by Dawn' will be taking place from April the 25th to the 27th in the Filmhouse Cinema on Lothian Road, Edinburgh but passes (�30 for the full weekend) are almost sold out so if you're wanting to go then get your pass now - for full details visit the 'Dead by Dawn' website by clicking here - thanks as ever to Adele Hartley.

The lovely folk at Tartan will be following their recent releases of the spooky 'Bangkok Haunted' and the unsung gem 'Pumpkinhead' (full reviews of both here at SGM soon) with some truly diverse and exciting titles including the deranged cannibal shocker 'Trouble Every Day' (with audio commentary from director Claire Denis, filmographies, film notes and theatrical trailer - release date 28th April), the welcome UK debut of the chilling 'Dark Water' (2nd May) and we're thrilled to hear that the highly controversial 'Irreversible' has been passed fully uncut and will heading our way on the 26th of May (with 'Making Of' documentary, alternate scenes, Special Effects featurette, trailer and more). Other forthcoming Tartan releases coming this year on DVD will include 'The Happiness of The Katakuris', 'Carnage', 'The Isle', 'Party Monster', 'Dead or Alive: Final', 'Full Time Killer', 'Shiri' and Rob Zombie's 'House of A Thousand Corpses' (which we can hopefully see in its uncut directors cut in time for Halloween!) Stay tuned for more details as we get them.

While our favourite UK supporters of the independent scene Cryptkeeper await word of the British Board of Film Censors butchering of 'Scrapbook' we're pleased to see that they are marching on with three cool new uncut indie genre releases in the form of 'Carnage Road' (slasher fun with 'quiltface'), 'Hells Highway' (bloody deviant fun with Ron Jeremy) and 'Death Factory' (gory mutant mayhem). Expect full reviews of all three here at SGM soon, but if you can't wait then head over to the Cryptkeeper site by clicking here and snap these bloody babies up now!

While the search continues for the ideal 'Four Flies on Grey Velvet' print, Dragon Films have announced even more tasty titles to their forthcoming catalogue...along with the previously announced special editions of 'Waxwork', its underrated sequel 'Waxwork 2: Lost in Time' and the hilarious 'Blood Diner' you can look forward to the Stuart Gordon gem 'Dolls', 'Exzesse' (which is a new special edition of Beautiful Girl Hunter) and perhaps most excitingly will be the double disc digipack special edition of 'The Burning' (which will include a 50 minute Tom Savini featurette). Stay tuned for more exclusive details here at SGM!

Folk have been enquiring as to what EC Entertainment are up to these days and SGM are pleased to inform you that they are back with a trio of special remastered DVD releases including 'Mountain of the Cannibal God' (anamorphic widescreen), 'A Blade In The Dark' (extended version with trailer and stills gallery, English audio only) and perhaps best of all a new anamorphic widescreen release of 'House on The Edge Of The Park' (complete with trailer, stills gallery and all new interviews with David Hess and director Ruggero Deodato, English audio only). Expect full reviews here at SGM very soon, though all three DVD's are available from good retailers now!

Fans of the gorgeous Misty Mundae will be thrilled to hear that a special limited edition DVD called 'Girl Seduction' will be heading our way this May and will include stacks of Misty's short films together for the first time, so have a cold shower and get ready for 'Inside Misty Mundae', 'Girlfriend', 'My First Female Lover', 'Seduction of Cyber Jane' along with the never before seen 'My Date with Misty Mundae', 'Misty's Secret', 'Bi-curious' and 'Three Girls and a Photographer' - fantastic!

UK fans of Misty and the Seduction Cinema line should keep their eyes peeled for the next series of 'Out There' as host Emily Booth meets up with the Seduction team for an intimate chat (US readers should see some of this footage appear on the forthcoming Spiderbabe special edition DVD).

Following our announcement that Screen Entertainment signed a deal with Italian genre giants Gruppo Minerva to release their Horror Club line in the UK we're pleased to confirm the latest details of the new 'Hard Gore' schedule. Hitting your local retailers shelves anyday now will be uncut anamorphic widescreen DVD releases of Jess Franco's rocking 'Killer Barbies' (out now), vintage schlocker 'Cannibal Terror' (April 21st), Fulci fun with 'Aenigma' and 'The Red Monks' (both 19th May) and (on the 16th of June) 'Cat In The Brain', 'Mondo Cannibale', Nightmares Come at Night' and new vampire flick 'Reign in Darkness'.

Other crackers on the way include many vintage Euro Shock gems ('Last Cannibal World', Amazonia', 'Deported Women of the SS', 'Voices from Beyond', 'Wave of Lust' and 'The House Near the Lake') and some hot new independent flicks ('Aquanoids', 'Maniacal', 'Bludgeon', 'The Attendant', 'Hunting Humans' and the 'Alien Agenda' series). Stay tuned to SGM for further updates as well as full reviews and check out the official 'Hard Gore' website by clicking here.

Barrel Entertainment are gunning for your votes for best DVD release of 2003 with the much anticipated confirmation of their special edition release of 'Nekromantik 2'. This alluring two disc set will include not only a gorgeous remastered print of the film itself (from the original camera negative) but also an audio commentary by director J�rg Buttgereit, co-author Franz Rodenkirchen, and actors Monika M. and Mark Reeder, 'The Making of Nekromantik 2' (25 minutes of behind the scenes footage), Rare German radio interviews with Buttgereit and Rodenkirchen (subtitled in English for the first time), 'Rise Up' music video from The Krupps (directed by J�rg Buttgereit and staring Monika M), 'Manne: The Muwi' (an early Buttgereit Super-8 short subtitled in English for the first time), Outtakes Reel, over 100 behind the scenes photos, Trailers (for Nekromantik, Der Todesking, Nekromantik 2, and Schramm) and a separate soundtrack CD containing the complete scores for Nekromantik and Nekromantik 2! This simply essential purchase will be heading our way from June the 10th - get your orders in now!

Salvation main man Nigel Wingrove has recently yet again came under fire from the bully boys at the British Board of Film Censors, attempts by FAB Press to screen his rarely seen short 'Visions Of Ecstasy' at their 'Flesh and Blood Festival' were thwarted when the BBFC abused their powers to get the screening blocked by the local council whom said if the short screened the event as a whole would be stopped. Discussing this woeful turn of events Nigel told SGM that "There are several issues of law here, the film ban was challenged in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and although they ruled against me and in favour of the UK government that doesn't stop the film being screened nor does the BBFC's remit give them authority to interfere in what councils and private cinemas show. Visions has been shown at the Barbican and at the NFT."

On a much happier note, Salvation have recently signed three new Italian horror films (Ivan Zuccon's 'The Shunned House', 'The Darkness Beyond' and 'The Unknown Beyond') and genre fave Ken Russell's latest and possibly last film 'The Fall of the Louse of Usher' which is seemingly "a truly bizarre film full of gore, sex and madness on an epic scale".

In the meantime Salvation fans can look out for the recently released 'Fetish Nation', 'Camille 2000', 'Playgirls and the Vampire', 'Slashers' and (on R18 DVD) 'Cafe Flesh 2' and Michael Ninn's 'Ritual'. Through April you can pick up World War shocker 'The Bunker', the German sex thriller 'Drop Out' (starring Nekro fave Beatrice M) and (on R18 DVD) Michael Ninn's 'Cashmere'. In May Salvation launch what will be any Goth's wet dream with their new music label 'Triple Silence', the first releases will include Eileen Daly's debut CD 'Jezebel' and SM goths 'The Nuns' debut CD 'New York Vampires' which will welcomingly be supported by a simultaneous DVD release starring 'The Nuns' in a collection of short films, live music and interviews - in fact everything any good latex loving vamp could want!

For full details of everything Salvation (and of course to ogle those lovely Satanic Sluts) head on over to the Salvation site here.

Following the disapointment of their recent lacklustre DVD release of 'Dawn of the Mummy' (click here for details) Anchor Bay UK soldier on with their campaign to appease genre fans this side of the pond with some mouth watering DVD releases in the pipeline. Here are the latest confirmed details of those much wanted titles...

Coming this month is 'Contamination' (anamorphic widescreen, Interview with Director Luigi Cozzi, Behind-the-Scenes Documentary, Theatrical Trailer, Stills Gallery, Graphic Novel DVD-Rom - release date 28 Apr 2003), 'The Crazies' (anamorphic widescreen, Audio Commentary with Director George Romero, interview with Star Lynn Lowry, Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, Stills Gallery - release date 28 Apr 2003) and Olaf Ittenbach's 'Legion of the Dead' (release date 28 Apr).

The 26th of May is the date to mark on your calendar for 'The Last House on the Left' double disc special edition (anamorphic widescreen, audio commentary with Director Wes Craven and Producer Sean S. Cunningham, second audio commentary with Stars David Hess, Marc Sheffler and Fred Lincoln, 'Celluloid Crime of the Century' 49 minute featurette, 'Scoring Last House' featurette with David Hess, 'Krug Conquers England' documentary, 20 minutes of Outtakes and Dailies, U.S. and German Trailers, TV Spots, Radio Spots, Stills Gallery, 'Night of Vengeance' excerpts from early shooting script, 'Tales That Will Tear Your Heart Out' exclusive first release of early unfinished Wes Craven short starring David Hess, 'Sex, Lies and Videotape' Essay on Blue Underground�s censorship fight and amazingly 'Krug and Company' extremely rare alternate version)

Get your vomit bags ready this summer with the welcome return of 'Mark of the Devil' (anamorphic widescreen, audio commentary with Director Michael Armstrong, Stills Gallery and 'Marked By The Devil' interview with Michael Armstrong - release date 23 Jun), 'Vampyres' (anamorphic widescreen, fully uncut and restored - release date 23 Jun), 'Near Dark' (release date July 2003) and 'Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things' (Aug 2003).

September is a hot month with the long overdue (and very much welcome) release of 'The Hills Have Eyes' double disc special edition with new DTS & Dolby EX audio (interviews, commentary, trailers and more with the lacklustre sequel coming in November) and at Halloween you can look forward to 'Don't Answer the Phone!' (release date Oct 2003), 'Dr. Terror's House of Horrors' (release date Oct 2003), 'The House That Dripped Blood' (release date Oct 2003) and 'Trick or Treat' (release date Oct 2003). Finally, don't forget to get ready for both 'Blood on Satan's Claw' (anamorphic widescreen, Audio commentary with Director Piers Haggard and Linda Hayden, Theatrical Trailer and 'Santa Sangre' (anamorphic widescreen, 'La Constellation Jodorowsky' documentary film, Theatrical Trailer, Stills Gallery, audio commentary with Director Alejandro Jodorowsky, Deleted Scene, Interview with Director Alejandro Jodorowsky, Short Film 'Echek' directed by Alejandro's son Adan).

Indie director Ron Atkins has just launched his own brand of extreme terror onto an unsuspecting horror loving public with four cool all-new genre DVD releases including 'Dark Night of the Soul' (Cult craziness, zombie henchmen, drugs and sexual deviancy galore in this special edition which includes The Making of Dark Night of the Soul, Trailers and director Ron Atkins interview), 'Schizophreniac' (maniac killer frenzy with Deleted Scenes, Trailers, Short Film 'A Walk With Harry', director Ron Atkins interview and music video), 'Necromaniac' (psycho sequel to Schizophreniac with Deleted Scenes, Trailer, director Ron Atkins interview and music video) and 'Eat the Rich' (cannibal fun in true Chainsaw Family tradition with Deleted Scenes, Trailers and director Ron Atkins interview).

All these tasty treats will be in all good retail shop in June but you can order them direct from producers Cut Throat Video by visiting their site by clicking here now!

In a bid to increase consumer availability fast rising genre stars Blue Underground have parted ways with their old distributors Image Entertainment and joined forces with NY based Ryko, so hopefully you'll find it easier picking up such essential delights as...'Two Evil Eyes' double disc special edition (anamorphic widescreen, DTS and 5.1 audio, Trailer, stills gallery, 'Two Masters Eyes' documentary with directors George Romero/Dario Argento, 'Savini's EFX' behind the scenes featurette, 'At Home with Tom Savini' featurette and interview with Star Adrienne Barbeau) and the much anticipated release of 'The Crazies' (anamorphic widescreen, audio commentary with director George Romero, interview with star Lynn Lowry, Trailers, TV Spots and Stills Gallery). April the 22nd is the date to mark in your calenders for both lovely releases!

German independent gore lovers Sword Of Independence have announced the details of their forthcoming uncut DVD of 'The Mutilation Man'. This gory shocker with the legendary Jim Van Bebber will becoming in a special 'Sick Edition' complete with optional English/German audio, trailers, alternative ending, deleted scenes, behind the scenes, interviews, music video and more! Stay tuned for release date and more details as we get them!

Don May is hard at work preparing a veritable smorgasbord of tasty genre releases for his Synapse company. Coming your way this month is the previously reported psychotic gem 'Blue Sunshine' in a double disc special edition (April 15th) but hot on its heels will be nunsploitation shocker 'Flavia The Heretic' (Uncensored International Version, anamorphic widescreen, interview with Star Florinda Bolkan, stills gallery - release date May 20th), a limited edition rerelease of the underated Henenlotter schlocker 'Brain Damage' (with a new anamorphic transfer and 5.1 audio mix, audio commentary and isolated music score - release date 22nd July) and cult film noir 'Night Train' (Original 1.33:1, Original Short Film Prequel, Audio Commentary, Music Video, Storyboards and more - release date 24th June).

Other titles in the pipeline (with no confirmed release dates) include the 30th Anniversary Edition of the vampire classic 'Lemora: A Childs Tale of the Supernatural' (with featurettes and directors commentary), the super sleazy Doris Wishman gem 'Let Me Die A Woman' (uncut anamorphic widescreen with trailers and TV spots) and the wild Mondo classic 'Brutes and Savages' (fully uncut for the first time ever!) Keep up to speed with all the Synapse line by visiting their website here.

Fans of SGM faves Tempe can plan their DVD purchases for the rest of the year with the following confirmed release date schedule...take a deep breath and get your diaries ready...'Townies' (special edition reissue, 27th May), 'Witchouse 3: Demon Fire' (budget special edition reissue, June 10th), 'Skinned Alive' (budget special edition reissue, June 10th), 'Bloodletting' (special edition with Dolby 5.1 surround, audio commentary with Matthew Jason Walsh , Ariauna Albright & James L. Edwards, Deleted scenes, 'Building a Better Bloodletting' featurette, Stills gallery, "I've Killed Before" original short film version with commentary and trailer reel, 8th July), 'Mulva Zombie Ass Kicker/Filthy McNasty' (budget double feature, 8th July), 'Ozone' (special edition with Dolby 5.1 surround, audio commentary with J.R. Bookwalter and James Black, isolated music score, Making-of featurette, stills gallery and trailer reel, 12th August), 'Quest For The Egg Salad' (new, 12th August), 'Galaxy Of The Dinosaurs' (Bad Movie Police, 9th September), 'Chickboxer' (Bad Movie Police, 9th September), 'Polymorph' (special edition, 14th October), 'Ghoul School' (14th October), 'Eddie Presley' (special edition with deleted scenes, audio commentary with cast and crew, 30-minute behind-the-scenes featurette and trailer reel, 14th November), 'Humanoids From Atlantis' (Bad Movie Police, 14th November), 'Aberration Boulevard' (special edition, December), 'Heather and Puggly Bust A Loaf' (new, December), 'The Sandman' (special edition, January 2004) and 'Maximum Impact' (Bad Movie Police, January 2004). Get your credit cards ready now!!

Canadian genre muso Chris Alexander is pleasing genre fans no end with the launch of Meridian Music, a new label offering sumptuous alternate soundtracks to European horror/exploitation films from the Golden Age. Out now for your delectation is Pittsburgh prog rockers 'Zombi's debut CD, Chris Alexander's own ambient variant soundtracks of Mario Bava's 'Planet of the Vampires' and Sergio Corbucci's gore western 'Django' as well as Matthew Garsia's chaotic poetry tome 'Legacies of Hunger'. Expect full reviews here at SGM soon, meantime check out the Meridian Music website by clicking here.

Also, fans of the output of the multi-talented Lucifer Fulci (if you haven't read his gore-shock novella 'Siki City' then do so now!) will be thrilled to hear that his horror punk band 'Penis Flytrap' are back with another truly stunning CD 'Dismemberment' which contains 13 tracks of ghoulishly cool punk fun (including new versions of the classics 'Dead Hate The Living' and 'Cemetery Girl'). A full review coming here soon but you can order this gem now on Black Plague Records from all good retailers.

The UK company that folk love to hate (Vipco that is) are tempting genre fans into their fold with an enticing release schedule of Euroschlockers including 'Violent Professionals' (7th April), '2019 The New Barbarians' (7th April), 'The Dungeon' (21st April), 'Ghosthouse' (5th May), 'The Case of the Bloody Iris' (5th May), 'Bronx Warriors' (12th May), 'Emanuelle In Prison' (19th May), 'Violence in a Womens Prison' (19th May), 'Zombie Nosh' (2nd June), 'Bronx Warriors 2' (16th June) and 'Cobra Mission' (16th June). Now if only they would submit to genre fans desires for anamorphic releases and one or two related extras?

Amongst the other general UK DVD news, Asia Argento fans (and there's many of us) will be submerged under a cold shower in anticipation of the 28th of April release of MIA's double disc set of Asia's directorial debut 'Scarlet Diva', curious zombie fans will be lurching forward on May the 19th for the special edition release of Danny Boyle's '28 Days Later' (with audio commentary, storyboard alternate ending, 8 deleted scenes, 'Pure Rage' The Making of 28 Days Later', Jacknife Lee music video, stills gallery, storyboards and trailers) and UK DVD heroes Hong Kong Legends have just launched their new sister label Premier Asia with the Korean epic 'Bichunmoo' which will be closely followed by 'Bang Rajan', 'Musa the Warrior' and the legendary (but sadly trimmed) 'Ichi The Killer'.

SGM indie faves Brimstone have teamed up with Montr�al's Helltimate Studios with news of a very exciting collaboration in the form of a new movie series called 'GoreGoyles'. The series will present short films by top filmmakers of the independent scene today. Each 'GoreGoyles' movie will feature two 45-minute segments that will seemingly "go heavy on blood and will rely on the use of graphic horror to create a long lasting impression on the audience in the tradition of the classic Italian gore films...GoreGoyles will not shy away from anything." The GoreGoyles movies will be released once a year on DVD - stay tuned for further news on this exciting project and check out the official site by clicking here.

Fans of the excellent UK dental shocker short 'On Edge' will be thrilled to hear that director Frazer Lee has teamed up once again with fan favourite Doug Bradley for his latest short shocker opus 'Red Lines'. The film will premiere at this years 'Dead by Dawn Festival' but those that can't make the screening can check it out when it screens as part of the new TV anthology series 'Fear Zone' later this year. Meantime get the full lowdown on 'Red Lines' by visiting the official site here.

Shaky Gonz�lez (director of the underrated low budget gem 'Angel of the Night') is back with another fun horror comedy ride in the form of 'Devil Rock'. This ripping yarn of rock and roll, the undead and she devils has just wrapped and will be heading our way in 2004. Stay tuned for more info soon!

And finally, one to keep an eye out for later this year is the new low budget horror comedy 'Freak Out'. Seemingly a celebration of the slasher/gorefest movies of the 80's 'Freak Out' promises to be one to watch out for, so check out the official website here for updates on the films release progress.

To access the old SGM News archives click here.