“Bad Dreams” centers on Cynthia (Jennifer Rubin), the lone survivor of a Jonestown-esque religious cult that ended in a blaze 13 years ago, when its charismatic brainwasher of a leader, Harris (Richard Lynch, “Invasion U.S.A.”), soaked everybody in gasoline a lit a match. She’s spent the entire time since in a coma. Almost immediately upon […]
Shout! Factory
Posted inArts & Culture
Sword and Sorcery Collection
Two of them, 1984’s “The Warrior and the Sorceress” and 1985’s “Barbarian Queen,” were paired in a double-feature DVD last year that you now need to sell or pay forward. Here, they’re joined by 1983’s “Deathstalker” and 1987’s “Deathstalker II.” As you may have surmised, barbarian movies were big business in the 1980s, following Arnold Schwarzenegger’s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Conan the Adventurer: Season One
For one thing, he’s no longer “the Barbarian,” but “the Adventurer.” For another, he asks for help. And kindly! He’s even … how to put this nicely? … kind of a wussy. But to catch any fervor there may be over this month’s big-screen, 3-D “Conan” remake, Shout! Factory has released the first 13 episodes on […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Women in Cages Collection / Women in Prison Triple Feature
“Cages” comes as part of the irresistible “Roger Corman’s Cult Classics” line, which is only natural since the skinflint producer practically invented the sub-genre with lots of skin. In the dank, Filipino prison that is 1971’s “The Big Doll House,” the more unfortunate inmates hang in bamboo cages outside to bake in the sun. Inside, […]
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Oblivion
1. It’s from Full Moon Entertainment’s heyday of straight-to-video fare. 2. When’s the last time you saw Siamese twin poker players, identical right down to the eye patch? 3. Andrew Divoff (“Wishmaster”) plays dual roles, including the lead villain, a reptilian green guy named Redeye.4. Julie Newmar portrays a madam, but basically does it as […]
Posted inMusic
Rio Conchos / Take a Hard Ride
From 1964, “Rio Conchos” — which, according to Google Language Tools, translates to English as, um, “Rio Conchos” — is a standard B Western of insignificance, other than the names among its cast: Stuart Whitman, Richard Boone, Tony Franciosa, Edmond O’Brien and Jim Brown. It’s a slight variation on the cowboys-vs.-Indians theme in that it’s […]
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Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D.
Believing herself to have been “born broken,” she’s given purpose when recruited by the titular agency, whose acronym stands for Sentinent World Operation and Response Department, a secret counterterrorism and intelligency agency dealing with extraterrestrial threats. As Jessica’s told, 32 alien races exist on Earth, all of them unwelcome. It’s her job to help rid […]
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Gordon’s War / Off Limits
Not much, other than having an African-American star and Vietnam as a plot point, but that’s enough for Shout! Factory to pair them on a single-disc double feature. The former isn’t your average blaxploitation picture; the latter is your below-average cop film. Directed by veteran actor Ossie Davis (from TV’s “The Defenders” to Spike Lee’s […]
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Giant Robot Action Pack
Sorry, Hollywood suits, but Charles Band > Michael Bay. For this two-for-one release, Shout! Factory has paired a couple of Full Moon Entertainment flicks that have nothing to do with each other except being awesomely bad and somehow involving giant, fighting robots: 1990’s “Crash and Burn” and 1993’s “Robot Wars.” (What, no “Robot Jox”?) “Crash […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Ron Howard Action Pack
His transition from in front of the camera to behind it is encapsulated in “The Ron Howard Action Pack,” which pairs two pictures he did for Roger Corman: 1976’s “Eat My Dust,” which he starred in so that he could leverage his way into starring, writing and directing 1977’s “Grand Theft Auto.” One of Corman’s […]