It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #28!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #28 here at the ol' Arcana! Can you identify this week's mystery photo, scanned direct from The Holecheck Archives? If you think you recognize it, post a comment below. As the week goes on, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding some pretty useless hints. Easy, right?

Here ya' go -- good luck!

Solved! Update coming soon!

For a look at the still unsolved Challenge #27, click here.  Ditto for Challenge #24!  We also have quite a few unidentified Grab Bag photos, if you really want to show your stuff. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is updated, um... not as often as it should be the last few weeks, but stop by and preorder some cool stuff anyway!

© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

Arcane Updates: TORSO, CHAINED HEAT and More!

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Everybody having a good time?  Just a quick note to comment on some recent items.

It seems like The VHS Archives project is being received well; reaction has been very positive to Project: MOGUL, so I guess I'll keep it going.  I've been updating past posts with foreign tape sleeves as readers have been submitting them (or as I've stumbled across them online), so be sure and give the old pages another look if there's a favorite of yours.  Additionally, if anyone out there has an alternate tape scan they'd like to contribute, feel free to get in contact -- the more, the merrier!  Are there any other outfits you guys would like to see tackled?  I'm going to start mixing in some IVC titles soon, along with a few other odds & ends that may not ever see full-on label pages.

In DVD news, this Summer will see the release of two titles I contributed to.  First on the docket is Panik House's long in the works Women in Prison Triple Feature, containing the sleaze classic Chained Heat (1983) in a version with plenty of never-before-seen skin and gore, its chicks-in-chains follow-up Red Heat (1985) and the cult star-palooza action epic Jungle Warriors (1984).  I got involved with the project years ago when Panik House was still an actual company, though the only thing that remains of my involvement now is an interview with Sybil Danning for Chained Heat.  I conducted the chat in Los Angeles a while back and she was an absolute delight to sit down with.  Hopefully you get a kick out of it!  (We also discussed Jungle Warriors, but that section of the chat now seems M.I.A.  Ditto with the stills collections.  And for those of you wondering why Linda Blair isn't on the disc, her price was pretty outrageous.  A shame, too, as the phone conversations I had with her about the film were hilarious!)     

Disc Numero Two-o is Blue Underground's reissue of Sergio Martino's Torso (1973), coming to DVD and Blu-Ray in August.  For this one, I scanned a bunch of my photo negatives, which includes a few shots I haven't seen printed anywhere before.  Granted, some of them came out much nicer than others (I guess I should really spring for a proper negative scanner!), but overall I think it's an interesting addition to the disc.  Thanks go out to DVD producer Greg Chick, who also wrangled up quite a bit of extra stuff for the gallery.  The release will also include a new interview with the director, conducted by [Warning: Gratuitous Segue Ahead!] Ultra Violent Magazine's Art Ettinger.  Which brings us to...

...The new issue of Ultra Violent!  I didn't write anything for it, but my history with UV goes back quite a few years, so I have no problems pimping their wares.  Issue #11 runs 112 pages, and has in-depth articles and interviews with Ray Sager, Lynn Lowry, Geretta Geretta and tons more.  You won't regret grabbing a copy!  Visit their website here.

Going back through the Arcana's files recently I realized I did an interview with Shout Factory's Cliff MacMillan about their line of Roger Corman's Cult Classics that I never posted!!  (Don't even ask.)  I hope to get it updated and post it sometime over the next month or so.  Then there's the Top Ten of 2010 I got sidetracked from and really need to finish!

While we're on the Shout Factory subject, they have so much good stuff coming out it's sick, including an awesome Pam Grier Women in Cages triple-bill compiling The Big Doll House (1971), The Big Bird Cage (1972) and Women in Cages (1971), and their Halloween offering of Vampires, Mummies & Monsters which collects The Velvet Vampire (1971), Lady Frankenstein (1971), Time Walker (1982) and Grotesque (1988)!  Their upcoming Lethal Ladies Collection, featuring TNT Jackson (1974), Firecracker (1981) and Too Hot to Handle (1977), can't get here soon enough

Genre saviors Something Weird Video are finally back to wide-release activity with three extremely noteworthy items:  blu-rays of H.G. Lewis' The Blood Trilogy (which includes Blood Feast (1963), 2000 Maniacs (1964) and Color Me Blood Red (1965)) and Frank Henenlotter's Basket Case (1982), and the home video premiere of their in-house production, Godfather of Gore: The Herschell Gordon Lewis Documentary (2010).  Pre-order price for all three is extremely cheap, so grab 'em at these rates while you can.  I think it's great to see them back in the game; hopefully this leads to more and more!  (I'm greedy.)

Media Blasters have staged a coup of my heart with their announcement of two important (seriously!) blu rays:  Burial Ground (1981) and Zombie Holocaust (1980).  Years back I put together a personal roster of Top Ten Eurotrash Essentials for pal David Zuzelo's Tomb It May Concern blog;  both titles were rightfully on there.  To me, this pair perfectly sums up everything I love about bizarro films, and to have them both in hi-def is a dream come true.  To sweeten the deal, the company recently reported that they'll be including a silent reel of outtakes and trims that the licensor supplied for Burial Ground!  After all these years, the chance to see some additional snippets really has me excited!

Lastly, as always, the Upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray Releases of Note list is constantly updated, so be sure to swing by and pre-order some cool stuff!

Until next time!

© 2011 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.

It's Name that Movie Monday! Challenge #20!

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Welcome back to Name that Movie Monday!

It's time for Challenge #20 here at the ol' Arcana! Can you identify this week's mystery photo, scanned direct from The Holecheck Archives? If you think you recognize it, post a comment below. As the week goes on, if no one guesses correctly I'll begin adding some pretty useless hints. Easy, right?

Here ya' go -- good luck!

UPDATE:

Solved at last! After seven long months, our reigning champion has finally been identified! Thumbs up to "docvoltage" for recognizing Jess Franco's The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969). The fifth and final entry in Harry Alan Towers' series of pulp adventures featuring Christopher Lee as the titular villain, this one details a preposterous plotline involving heart transplants, frozen oceans and the usual world domination attempts. Not a great film by any stretch, it's still fun enough Saturday afternoon filler, and is helped a bit in the eye candy department by co-stars Rosalba Neri and Maria Perschy, who pretty much steal the show.

Belatedly hitting U.S. screens in 1972 courtesy of International Cinema Corporation, as compared to the Warner Bros.-handled earlier efforts, it didn't exactly light the box office on fire and producer Towers has been quoted saying director Franco effectively killed the series. Obscure label Electric Video Inc. released the film to VHS in 1981 with silly cover art and a transfer that didn't do many favors to its already-questionable reputation. In 2003 Blue Underground performed a minor rescuing act and dropped Castle and its immediate prequel The Blood of Fu Manchu in their Christopher Lee Collection box set, which also house the superior Circus of Fear and a restored uncut The Bloody Judge. All four films look great, are complete, and are packed with a wide array of supplements including featurettes, stills collections, commentaries, trailers, etc. It's well worth picking up.

VHS cover courtesy of Jayson Kennedy's Basement of Ghoulish Decadence.

For a look at our last entry, click here. And don't forget, our Upcoming Releases List (the best on the 'net) is constantly updated, so stop by and preorder some cool stuff!

 
© 2010 -- Bruce Holecheck. All Rights Reserved.