Welcome (back, hopefully) to the Special Edition. Turn up your tunes, rock out hard, and get ready for the weekly barrage of titles. If you happen to headbang, just hold on long enough to see the cover art. While you’re checking this out, I’m off to complete an awesome guitar riff and then to cry myself into a deep, deep sleep.


I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Cash My Paycheck!

alalla
The DeNiro syndrome. Out in full force, and this time it sucks in precocious child Dakota Fanning and Dylan Baker. As he swiftly picks up a paycheck, someone seems to have forgotten to tell him that the more awful films he makes, the more it plunges his career down a path Brando knew very well. When you’re telling people in EPK’s that you’re enjoying working with the director of Swimfan, well, strange things are afoot at the Circle K indeed. This is not to say that Swimfan isn’t a good film, because it’s terrible, but should you feel like you need some comfort during the bad times (Cheer up! Buy it from CHUD!) at least you know you can jump on the couch while the bombs are exploding in your hometown and look back, knowing that you weren’t involved with it. Even better is Hide and Seek‘s DVD case, which instructs you to check out the 04 alternate endings! People might have probably forgotten about Fox’s marketing tactic of shipping just the end reels to theatres in time for the movie’s release, just to make sure no one ruins the ending for you. Instead, ruin yourself and your lives by watching this dreck, which has psychologist DeNiro taking daughter Fanning up north to escape the horrific incidents surrounding their wife and mother’s suicide. Fanning’s a bit more than traumatized (maybe from the script -?), and soon starts to talk to an imaginary friend named Charlie. DeNiro doesn’t like what he’s seeing, so it becomes a case of his incessant pestering of Fanning, as the pair try to figure out what in the name of Rocky and Bullwinkle is going on. God, I’m killing myself padding out the words on this one. Because I’ve subjected myself to seeing the film, and because I care (slightly), just skip this one altogether.

Hide and Seek destroys your weak pathetic lives with: audio commentary by director John Polson, screenwriter Ari Schlossberg, and editor Jeffrey Ford, 14 deleted/extended scenes with optional director-screenwriter-editor commentary, including four alternate endings, rough conceptual sequences (live action intercut with storyboards) and a making-of featurette.


Noir!Shadowy notions. Emotional distress. Sweat pouring from all orifices. Curtains flailing in the wind. No, I’m not talking about the aftermath of your trip to Taco Bell, but rather the wacky and evil world of film noir. Don’t think I’m trying to sound all French on you either, ’cause you know, it’s actually just a name thrown onto the older crime films made in the 40’s onward, the types of pictures that defied a nation, threw civilizations into upheaval, and destroyed many a pantaloon into the brothels of Uncle Mitch. Warner Brothers continues their world domination tour of 2005, complete with an unlady-like machinegun punch to your guts, and ushers forth the Film Noir Classic Collection: Volume 2. While not as immediate as the first (buy it from CHUD – or some mixed up dame’ll shoot ya!) the titles that comprise the set are still solid gold, and worth the wait. Rest assured, though, that CHUD’s DVD Reviews of each film are Coming Soon (check out Ian’s Mixed DVD Review for Clash By Night here), although possibly one of our reviewers might run away for months never to return. Seriously. Not so humorously are those shady people caught up in a various situations that comprise the set. First off there’s Born To Kill, where a very animalistic guy gets involved with the wrong situation. Clash By Night throws some intensive melodrama into the proceedings when a woman returns home, and doesn’t get what she bargained for. Crossfire goes head-to-head against anti-Semitism in one of the first social injustice pictures of our era, while Dillinger traces the seedy path of America’s Public Enemy No. One. Finally, in The Narrow Margin, a detective is assigned to protect a gangster’s widow on the train from Chicago to Los Angeles, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest B-films ever made. Now you can decided if they’re right about these for yourself, and sound all bloated and snarky when you slyly mention that you hate them all across the land of the fansite.




Born To Kill comes with a gunshot, a serious deranged relationship and an audio commentary by Author/Historian Eddie Muller with audio excerpts from Director Robert Wise. Clash By Night comes with: Commentary w/ filmmaker Peter Bogdanovish/Audio excerpt from Fritz Lang, on top of the theatrical trailer. Crossfire comes with the featurette: Crossfire: Hate Is Like A Gun, and an audio commentary with film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini, complete with audio interview excerpts of director Edward Dmytryk. Dillinger has an audio commentary with JOHN MILIUS (yes!), interspersed with audio interview excerpts of screenwriter Philip Yordan, along with the theatrical trailer. The Narrow Margin includes: an audio commentary by filmmaker William Friedkin, with audio interview excerpts of director Richard Fleischer, and the original theatrical trailer.


noir!
Outside of the Film Noir Classic Collection, WB has gotten off their lazy spectacular DVD-a-week assess and brought you the release of Point Blank. John Boorman’s undisputed classic (undisputed, well, because it’ll kill you good if you disagree), has everyone’s favorite hardass Lee Marvin fighting for the good ol’ American way of pissing everyone off, all in the name of being cool, daddio. Marvin (as Walker) "strides through Los Angeles with the steel-eyed stare of a stone-cold killer, or perhaps a ghost. Betrayed by his wife and best friend, who gun him down point-blank and leave him for dead after a successful heist, Walker blasts his way up the criminal food chain in a quest for revenge. Did he survive the shooting or return from the grave, or is it all a dying dream?" Using flashbacks, New Wave techniques, and all around "startling shifts in setting", Boorman brings you the demise of the gangster film and the rise of the extreme anti-hero, all set to the intensive craziness of everything that’s going around him. If you’re wondering why the plot sounds so familiar, that’s because Mel Gibson and Oscar-winner Brian Helgeland grabbed the original novel The Hunter, and threw it all together to make the rather half-baked and extremely steel blue Payback. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to bash someone’s brains out.

Firing the barrel, Point Black explodes with: (a supposed amazing) audio commentary with auteur Steven Soderberg and Director John Boorman and 02 vintage featurettes: The Rock Part One and The Rock Part Two.


Bride & Predjudice
I’m assuming not many of the guys here liked director Gurinder Chadha’s previous film, Bend It Like Beckham, partly because they’re not going to watch that type of Girl Power! (it’s actually an infectious film that makes you smile) Most of those who did venture their horny eyes into screening it have probably thrown the inevitable "sexiest tomboy beanpole" phrase out there in the world, before being pummeled into submission courtesy of a rather large man. In the mold of Chadha’s previous film, in the sense that she’s bringing forth a great message for young girls and women alike, she sets her singing and dancing sights on Jane Austen’s novel, again mixing in a far Eastern culture and titling it Bride & Prejudice. "Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai) is the lovely and eligible daughter of her socially ambitious mother and father. Mother and father want to be sure that Lalita, the most beautiful of their four daughters, settles down with a man worthy of her, but she has proven resistant to matchmaking, announcing that she will choose her own husband, and will choose him for love. But while attending the wedding of a friend, Lalita meets Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), a college buddy of family friend Raj who is the son of a wealthy hotel magnate. Lalita finds that Will makes a strong impression on her — she can’t stand him, but she also can’t get him out of her mind. Will feels the same way about her, and as they inadvertently chase one another over three continents, will morbid fascination grow into true love?" These modern updates of classic British novels do have the innate fascination of seeing the mechanics of how they updated the films, and why. But, I have this feeling that most of you out there would rather be watching Reanimator than watching the huge dance pieces centered around a very, very attractive woman.

Gaily sing and dance your way into: audio commentary by director/cowriter Gurinder Chadha and cowriter Paul Mayeda Berges, a making-of featurette, some deleted scenes, some extended songs, Ashanti’s song (joy!) and a Conversation with actors Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson, where the pair just forgo the conversation and slobber all over their hot bodies.


nations!
Before bowing on Starz a few years back, before plastering "based on a major motion picture!" across Elizabeth Wurtzel’s down-on-the-outs novel across your local bookstore shelves, Miramax gave the keys of the adaptation rumpus room to Erik Skjoldbjærg, whose previous film (the original) Insomnia (check out the amazing Norwegian film right here) showed a lot of promise and grasp on characters and their evil, slimy actions. So, being the good up-and-coming filmmaker that he was, he filmed Prozac Nation, which has "Christina Ricci as Lizzie, a prize-winning student heading off to Harvard where she intends to study journalism and launch a career as a rock music critic. However, Elizabeth’s fractured family situation including an errant father and a neurotic, bitterly hypercritical mother (Jessica Lange) has led to a struggle with depression. When her all-night, drug-fueled writing binges and emotional instability alienate her roommate and best friend, Ruby (Michelle Williams), as well as both her first (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) and second (Jason Biggs) boyfriends, Lizzie seeks psychiatric counseling from Dr. Diana Sterling (Anne Heche), who prescribes the wonder drug Prozac." Then, being the wonderfully odd studio that they were, Miramax promptly shelved the film for about a goddamned half-decade of weirdness, which could have been for a variety of reasons. Where audiences not ready for Ricci? How do you market a film around Prozac? How does Anne Heche keep finding work after Volcano? In all of this, the film finally sees its DVD release, as part of the great Miramax dump off before the Disney-fied restructuring of the company and the Weinstein’s flee to locations unknown, although we’ll know soon enough. Be enticed by the cover art, and enter the world of Ricci at your own risk.

Be afraid of the biggest movie star in the world’s personal diagnosis with: "Anatomy of a Scene" segement from the Sudance Channel. I’ve leaving the latter just how it is spelled on Amazon.com, because surely, like the SE, they need editors too. Segment! Sundance! Prozac (I need!).


fuck frankie!
Because we’re on a Miramax kick, let’s bust out the jams with Nick’s ‘most hated’ Emily Mortimer and the film Dear Frankie. When not going up against super global spies, dangling from airborne motorcycles, peeling off a fake gooey face, singing his heart out in a Schumacher-inspired Gothic set design, covering his visage with a phantom mask, or even being uber-manly, Gerard Butler has time to do the little things, like star in independent films about abusive letter writing. Provided, that there are, of course, some explosions. Any kind will do (he prefers the ones in the sheets). The gorgeously talented (especially in Young Adam, a film I love a lot) Emily Moritmer is Lizzie, the mother who mothers Young Frankie into a haze of thumb sucking and bed wetting. "Constantly uprooting themselves and relocating from town to town, Lizzie and Frankie are on the run from the latter’s abusive father, a fact unknown to the boy, who believes his dad is a busy seaman sending letters full of adventure and love. In fact, Lizzie is writing those missives, but she is faced with a challenge when Frankie discovers his father’s ship will dock nearby. Lizzie hires a kind, handsome stranger (Gerard Butler) to play Frankie’s dad, creating an odd situation in which ever-growing lies become a conduit for love, and Lizzie’s repressed desires come to the fore with a man posing as her husband." Isn’t it nice that somewhere out there, a mother is destroying her own kid’s psyche with backdoor machinations and shady ways of doom? Yeah, thought so!

Frankie’s dad’s not real! – with: an audio commentary by director Shona Auebach, some deleted and extended scenes with optional director commentary, an interview with director Auebach, and The Story of Dear Frankie – you’re dead! …


Twenty BucksMan, I’d kill for Twenty Bucks right now. What would I buy? What could I destroy? Well, there’s obviously Japanimation porn, but that leaves a funny taste in my mouth. I guess I’d just give the money to debt relief for our country. Or maybe just debt relief for Matt Frewer, who was the man back in his "In here, I AM THE SAVIOR!" Lawnmower Man days. Frewer’s just one of the many characters encountering a stack of twenty dollah dollah bills y’all (in actuality, it’s just one bill) that have the power to change the face of the earth, like Live 8 will or won’t do. Suspense! "The scrap of currency’s journey begins after it is spit out of a downtown Minneapolis ATM machine into the hands of a busy young mother. It’s a windy day, and the crisp bill is blown out of her hands into those of a bag lady who uses it on the lottery because she believes the serial numbers are lucky. Unfortunately, the bill is plucked from her hands by a light-fingered skate boarder who uses the money at a local bakery. From there the bill’s odyssey takes it to a wide variety of places including a wedding, a stripper’s g-string, a con artist’s scam, and a robbery. It ends up used as a note pad, a birthday present, a coaster, and a fishing contest trophy. Interestingly, every one who encounters the bill changes in some way." Spaulding Gray reanimates himself back from the dead (kidding?) and busts a move alongside such heavy weight giants as Brendan Fraser, Linda Hunt, Christopher Lloyd, Steve Buscemi, Jeremy Piven (who is kicking ass in Entourage right now), and of course, Frewer himself, starring as Jobe. One of the many things to wonder about this film is the disappearance of its director Keva Rosenfeld, who only made this film and then seemingly joined Jimmy Hoffa, although it might be interesting to see what’s become of the young director.

Fly, my pretty, fly! – with: an audio commentary by Rosenfeld (maybe we’ll figure out what happened?) and the cast, and the featurette – "Writing, Casting, and
Prep".


FF4Before you wrongly make your way to the theatre to check out the abomination that is Fantastic Four, make sure to see the group’s animated adventures in Fantastic Four – The Complete Animated Series. 2-D is probably better than the 3-D adventures of stupid dialogue, like "No. Let’s!" and "Never do!" before shouting "Flame on!". If I wrote this column like that, please censure me. Wait, I just realized that I do, so scratch that last part. I’m too lazy to take it out. Or am I? O.R. you? "It’s here–the longest-running Marvel series in history arrives for the first time on DVD in this spectacular four-disc set, featuring all 26 episodes of the heralded 1990’s animated series. Learn the origin of the Fantastic Four, and be there as Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing save the world from the dastardly Doctor Doom and his legion of villains. Now you can relive every action-packed episode, complete with exclusive introductions by Stan Lee. It’s a fantastic DVD collection you’ll want to experience over and over again." Thanks overly happy synopsis! The animated series has our heroes battling an animated Dick Clark (in my dreams), the ubiquitous Puppet Master, the Submariner kidnapping Sue, the impending coming of the Silver Surfer, the negative zone (or what I like to call my comedic timing) and figuring out the Mask of Doom! The DVD features the 2 seasons of the show, so be happy and merry before being destroyed by the feature film!

Have a really bad Brooklyn accent with: All 26 Episodes from the 1994-95 series, something called Stan Lee’s soapbox (good thing it’s not a shinebox) and episodic introductions by the man, the myth, and the legend himself: (no, not Kinski) Stan Lee.


Also coming out on Tuesday are these digital treats, most likely one or two or all of them will snatch your wallet and use your credit cards, thus rending your credit score helpless, lifeless, and in need on a cash-transfusion. You can beat up your spending habits later, so support CHUD while you screw yourself into bankruptcy by clicking on the cover art! Additionally, see Teri Hatcher bare it all to the T-1000 in Cool Surface, Samuel L. Jackson battle those who won’t give him nominations in In My Country, and the Ring-rip off Premonition.

monkSam-u-el!nudity!
Blue Ridge Falltotally gay!rough necks!
what?Going The DistanceHexed



Ignored And Forgotten!

Every once and a while I’ll miss out on a title, case in point: last week, where I just conveniently forgot (because they’re paying me nothing under the table, dammit) about a recent DVD title that you might like to know about. Feel free to berate me later, or through e-mail (check out the end of this column) and I’ll just let you yell at me while I sheepishly take it. Fuckers!

OvernightThere’s more than a few people who are physically in love with The Boondock Saints. They coddle it at night, sleep next to it for comfort, make sweet, sweet love to it’s digital center and then mess up their DVD player upon playback. While I find that film to be a relative bore, it does have Dafoe, and the more of him you get, the more of him you get. Behind-the-scenes, there was an intensive battle the likes of which not many New Hampshire based filmmakers like Troy Duffy can say they were apart of (because, seriously, we’re all struggling or famous like Adam Sandler) that segued itself into the documentary Overnight (Nick’s DVD Rack Review – COMING SOON). "The megalomaniacal rise and fall of filmmaker Troy Duffy is chronicled by one-time friends and colleagues in director Mark Smith’s documentary. The film takes its title from the "overnight success" that befell Duffy in 1996, when the then-bartender was signed by Miramax president Harvey Weinstein to direct his killers-on-a-mission-from-God script The Boondock Saints. Smith’s cameras follow Duffy from pre-production — when he battled with executives over casting and financing decisions — on through to the lackluster release of the film. What’s more, Duffy expected his relative cinematic success to translate over to his burgeoning rock band as well — and the tension created by the presupposed deal caused him to alienate just about everyone involved with both projects." In watching movies like this (and by extension, somewhat, Project Greenlight), the wonderfulness of the narrative events is not in how it is told, but rather how much everyone must suffer. Let’s face it, seeing people in worse situations that yours is always interesting, because your jealousy has no bounds. It’s the awfulness of human nature!

Be Irish and mad – with: a Directors’ interview on "Backstage with Barry Nolan," CN8, some deleted scenes, cast & crew bios, and the theatrical trailer.


Confusion And Enlightenment

It’s been a slower week than usual for recent announcements. A question you might ask is why I am a bit slower than your other usual DVD information stops, and the answer would be that in most cases, I prefer to have cover art to go along with everything else. That way you’ll know what to look for when the time comes around for release. The second part of that would be that images speak a lot more than words when you’re flicking back and forth between this and your pornography, so I’ve got to compete!

The Fly and The Fly II have been announced, and rather than waste all of the incoming block of text with unfunny comments and off-the-cuff remarks, we’ll just say that they’re both arriving on 09.27.05 and both double disc DVD sets have a wealth of extras the likes of which haven’t been paralleled since the Alien Quadrilogy Boxed Set (which you can purchase from CHUD here). These sets are both stacked beyond belief, and carry enough extras to bomb a small country to death.

The Fly Uno smashes through with Jeff Goldblum and: audio commentary with David Cronenberg, and a DTS 5.1 track. That’s just disc one. Disc two, get ready for it, comes with: Fear of the Flesh 04-Part Documentary, a hellofalot of Branching Clips (A Radical Departure, The Rise of Marketing, Who Wants To Die?, All You Have To Do Is Be Passionate, Cronenberg’s Preparation, On Cronenberg’s Films, Cronenberg as Gynaecologist, Cronenberg as Director, On the Cannes Jury, The Mother of Invention, It Takes Time To Spread the Goop, Glass-Break Test, Scotch & Razor Blades Genes in the Ether, Winning the Oscar, The Last Collaboration, Haunted by The Fly and The Brundle Museum of Natural History), some deleted scenes, test footage (Main Title Elements, Telepod Tests, Make-up tests, The Exploding Head and Cronenfly), some written works (George Langelaan’s Original Short Story, Charles Edward Pogue’s Original Screenplay and Cronenberg’s Rewrite to name a few), a lot of promotional material (teasers, trailers for all Fly films, profiles and galleries), stills galleries from the film and a lot of Easter Egg extras (like: Halloweener and The Vomit Drop). Cover Art is forthcoming!

BuzzThe Fly II comes buzzing around with: an audio commentary by Director Chris Wala and Film Historian Bob Burns, an alternate ending for the houseboat scene, a deleted scene – ‘stopping for food’, trailers for The Fly, The Fly (1958), Return of the Fly (1959), Alien and The Omen and a DTS 5.1 track all spread out over the first disc. Disc numero deux will include: The Fly Papers: The Buzz on Hollywood’s Scariest Insect, Transformations: Looking Back at "The Fly II" Documentary, CWI Video Production Journal, Composer’s Master Class: Christopher Young featurette, Original Theatrical EPK, Storyboard to Film Comparisons of 3 Scenes with Optional Director Commentary (on the Opening Scene, Bartok and the Ending), stills galleries (production photos and art on The Fly II and storyboards) and theatrical trailers A and B. [Note from George: This disc could’ve been so much more…]


Garbo! DVD!
When older titles are announced, I’m really not sure how many of you reading this, besides myself are really, really into them. Warner Brothers announced a couple of weeks ago The Garbo Signature Collection, which should surely send some of you screaming into the confines of your campy B-titles and bargain bin shenanigans. That’s cool. If you’re interested, the set includes some great titles, ones that helped establish one of the screens sexiest sirens and a Swede the likes of which have been unparalleled (until Ingrid Bergman came along to send hearts a flutter). The set showcases Garbo in a variety of roles, including those in Mata Hari, where she plays a foreign spy who destroys hearts, and in Ninotchka, her famed collaboration with comedic genius Ernst Lubitsch, where she uses her public desire to be left alone to great effect. All of the others titles scattered throughout the set as a grand as the lady was herself, very enigmatic, yet thoroughly satisfying. This should be a great set to visit (or revisit) now that everything’s converging onto DVD!



The Garbo Silents Collection, courtesy of those fine bastards at TCM, comes with audio commentary on Flesh and the Devil by Garbo Author Barry Paris, audio commentary on The Temptress by Greta Garbo: A Cinematic Legacy Author Mark A. Vieira, audio commentary on Mysterious Lady by Film Historians Tony Maietta and Jeffrey Vance, The Divine Woman: Surviving 9-Minute Excerpt of This Lost 1928 Silent Film, Settling the Score Goes Behind the Scenes of the TCM Young Film Composers Competition and the Scoring of Notable Silent Movies, Including These Garbo Classics, Alternate Ending on The Temptress and photo montages on Garbo’s Silent Years at MGM. Anna Christie comes with: no special features. Mata Hari does come with the theatrical trailer, so be overjoyed!



Grand Hotel is basically getting repackaged for this set, and like the former edition, includes: a new documentary – Checking Out: Grand Hotel, a premiere newsreel, a vintage Musical Short Nothing Ever Happens, Just a Word of Warning Theatre Announcement and Trailers of the film and the 1945 Remake of Week-End at the Waldorf. Queen Christina comes with the original theatrical trailer. As does Anna Karenina too!



Camille has Garbo vamping it up in 1947 Paris, and includes the original 1921 Silent Version Starring Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino, there’s also an audio bonus: Leo Is On the Air Radio Promo and the original 1936 version’s theatrical trailer. Ninotchka comes with: the 1967 BBC Show Garbo – hosted by Joan Crawford and the theatrical trailer of the Film and Its Musical Remake Silk Stockings. Finally, there’s also a TCM original documentary included in the boxed set by famed historian and all around awesome guy Kevin Brownlow (he also wrote a spectacular book on David Lean and another one called Parade’s Gone By). Brownlow’s portrait of the secretive artist will also air on TCM later on in the month of September, as part of a month-long tribute to Garbo and her films.


Additionally, as I sneak in item and make this thing a little longer than intended, check out the artwork from the 02 disc and 04 (international) Special Edition of Titanic, courtesy of thedigitalbits. The US domestic release will be from the New-Paramount.





It’s Tuesday And I’m In Region Free Love

Screw all of the other days of the week (although Friday’s are nice due to theatrical release schedules), because Tuesdays are where it’s at, home video speaking. I suppose pay day could be on there as well, but it just keeps going back to fuel the Region Free addiction that is ruining my family, my mistresses’ love life, and my anti-professionalism against the world.

Mysterious SkinGregg Araki had his share of interesting films, although are you a fan of Doom Generation? It’s part of his self-proclaimed "teenage apocalypse trilogy", alongside Totally Fucked Up and Nowhere (titles John Hughes wishes he could use!). Araki’s films are firecrackers, they’re meant to be taken differently by everyone who experiences them, and it’s up to you to figure out what you want to take from his harsh sides of homosexuality, violence, and relationships. His most recent film, which still might be playing down the street, if you live in a culturally awesome city, like New York, was Mysterious Skin. "Based on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim, Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin follows two boys on the cusp of adulthood in a Kansas-like part of America: Brian (Brady Corbet), a shy introvert obsessed by his own possible UFO abduction, and Neil (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a cruel and icy beauty who sexualizes his every encounter. As each follows his own journey – Brian’s leads to a strange connection with a fellow abductee and a dismembered cow, Neil’s to the exciting and ultimately dangerous life of a New York City hustler – they seek to come to terms with the incident that has so shaken their current lives and that, to their surprise, unites them in desperate pain." Araki’s going to test your limits with this one, so like other prodding filmmakers of his generation, it’s going to be a mountain climb to figure it all out. Which is good, right?

Be an allegory for the Hollow Man with: English 5.1 and Russian 5.1 Audio options. This is a Region 05 PAL DVD release.

Zeta Beta KappaParanormal occurrences have always interested me. Whether or not I believe in ghosts isn’t really the case, but what matters is that I believe there are other crazily strange things out there that we just don’t understand. Call me crazy (I’m crazy! – thanks, self!). The Omega Factor was one of those shows that debuted on the BBC, which means that crazy Americans like myself with horrendous spelling skills and word diarrhea, haven’t had the opportunity to check it out! "There is a highly-secret government organization called Department 7. Its existence is known only to the Prime Minister and some members of the Cabinet. Its brief is to investigate the Supernatural – to discover the Omega Factor. Journalist Tom Crane has been given the same brief by a Sunday newspaper and suddenly finds himself confronting inexplicable and even terrifying situations." Secret government factions? Supernatural? Consider me more than interested, like thousands of others who contributed to the relative controversial nature of the show. I guess it’s because any time you introduce supernatural elements into the populace (like Clint Howard) there’s bound to be some uproar.

Shake until you’re white with: Inside The Omega Factor – a new and exclusive documentary, examining the making of the series and the controversy it caused! Featuring creator of the series and writer Jack Gerson, George Gallaccio (writer/producer), Anthony Read (writer), Eric Davidson (director) and Natasha Gerson (‘Morag’), ‘Powers Of Darkness’ audio commentary with Eric Davidson, Anthony Read and George Gallacio, a photo gallery and a 24 page booklet by film and TV historian Marcus Hearn.


Zombies!Those fucking Zombies are at it again, this time UNCUT (dudes!) and out and about with The Living Dead At Manchester Morgue (known to US audiences as Let Sleeping Corpses Lie). There’s that great thing about Zombie movies is that unless you’re Fulci and can’t really direct (can anyone seriously tell me what the hell is up with the ending of City Of The Living Dead?) that you’re bound to get what you came for: gore, gore, and more scary gore to keep your girlfriend/boyfriend/animalfriend into your evil black sheets of rotting flesh. Seriously, clip those toenails. "In a small town in the north of England, an experimental pest-control device is being used with horrific consequences. Edna (Cristine Galbo) and George (Ray Lovelock) are unlikely traveling companions – they met en-route when she backed her car into his motorbike and subsequently offered him a lift to his destination. Stopping over near Manchester, Edna is attacked by a man that the locals say has been dead for days. Edna and George soon realize that inhabitants are being murdered by the re-animated dead: the new pesticides used in the area are bringing the dead back to life, and for sustenance they need human flesh!" Edna and George (not Merchan), should have figured it out beforehand and trucked the hell out of there. Some crazy shit’s about to go down.

Barbara, were’ coming to arghhh! – with: the Uncut Anamorphic (16:9) Widescreen Version, Interview with director Jorge Grau, TV and Radio spots, poster and stills gallery, some alternate beginnings to the film, hidden extras, and a 40 page collector’s booklet.


All Your DVD Reviews Are Belong To Us

Ah, webjunk sayings. Let me refresh your memory. Check out these previous releases, and as always, read the goddamned CHUD DVD Reviews. Everyone does these so you can check them out! Otherwise, why bother?

06/28: The Pacifier (C. Nathan’s DVD Review), Nick Frost’s Danger! 50,000 Volts!, Daily
Show: Indecision 2004
, Ren & Stimpy: Seasons Three and a
Half-ish
, Diary Of A Mad Black Woman (Eileen’s DVD Rack Review), Cadet Kelly (William’s DVD Rack Review), The Even Stevens Movie (William’s DVD Rack Review – COMING SOON), Dirty
Mary, Crazy Larry: Supercharged Edition
, Gunner Palace (CHUD’s DVD
Review – COMING SOON
), Browning Version: Criterion, Crazed
Fruit: Criterion
, Stone Cold (My Awful DVD Review), Revelations: Complete Series, La
Femme Nikita: Season Three
and Acacia. Check out last weeks’
Special Edition for anything you missed!

06/21:
American Psycho: Uncut Killer Special Edition, The Jacket
(CHUD’s DVD Review), Hostage (Dave’s DVD
Review
), Cursed (Ian’s DVD Review), Coach Carter, Miss Congeniality
02: Armed And Fabulous
(C. Nathan’s DVD Review),
Starchaser: Legend of Orin, Oz: Complete Fifth Season,
Yellow Asphalt, Alien Attack Collection and the Monster
Madness Collection
. Check out the Special Edition for 06.21.05 by
wondering why the hell none of the links work. As Garth would say: not!


Check out CHUD’s DVD Review right here, and leave your non-feedback in our DVD Review and Discussion Forum right here. Let’s now take bets on how many pipe up with their intensive hatred! Odds are 4-to-1. Takers?



Help Me Obi-Wan!

This would be the Bargain Bin section. RED means it’s the lowest price of all the stores listed. YELLOW means that the store mentioned has deals for you to take mercilessly and immorally. If you should see ORANGE, contact your webmaster.

deepdiscountdvd.com:
Hide and Seek is $21.29
Film Noir Classic Collection Volume 2 is $37.44
Point Blank is $13.26
Dear Frankie is $21.59
Bride & Prejudice is $21.59
Prozac Nation is $21.59
Twenty Bucks is $19.50
Monk: Season Four is $38.99
Fantastic Four Animated Series is $31.80
Overnight is $19.79
In My Country is $19.50
Cool Surface is $8.98
Hexed is $13.91

Browse the multi-region DVD retailers and their sales right here! (click on the store name to get whisked away!)
xploitedcinema.com, HkFlix.com, diabolikdvd.com and YesAsia.com

Amazon.com:
Angel: Seasons One, Three and Four are $35.99/each
Buffy: Vampire Slayer: Seasons Three, Four, and Five are $35.99/each
Roswell: Seasons One and Two are $35.99/each
X-Files: Seasons One, Two, Three, Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten are all $59.99/each

CompUSA.com:
Hide and Seek is $14.99
A $7.49 SALE for: Muppets
Take Manhattan
, Jerry
McGuire
(non-SE), Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(non-SE), Legends of the Fall: SE, Guns Of Navarone: SE, Gattaca,
Donnie
Brasco
, Lawrence of Arabia (non-SE), Air Force One, A
R