Code Red is an independent DVD releasing company that specializes in giving B-movies, Criterion worthy extras. They provide a decent change of pace from the rest of the DVD market with cult films that are not as sleazy as what some of their competitors (Severin)Â are releasing.
Since February, they have not released anything, but were supposed to be a promising two months for the company with releases of “Trapped,” “Choke Canyon,” “Night of the Dribbler,” “Power Play” and “The Weekend Murders” in June and July.
One major problem was all of these releases were pushed back to August, or with dates to be announced and this was due to poor pre-order sales.
“Choke Canyon”, featuring Stephen Collins (“7th Heaven”) and Bo Svenson, (“Breaking Point”) was set to release on June 23, but according to Code Red, “Due to poor pre-order sales it was never pressed. Under 100 copies were ordered with 30 going to Netflix for the fifty states.” The DVD’s main bonus features was a lengthy conversation with Bo Svenson.
The film will now release on September 1.
“Trapped” and the Italian Giallo, “The Weekend Murders” were pushed back to August 4 and 11. That month will also bring us the long awaited “Stunt Rock” on August 25 and the stop motion creature feature “The Strangeness” on August 18.
Stephen Thrower’s novel, “Nightmare U.S.A.” features a chapter devoted to and analysis of “The Strangeness.” He claimed despite a slow start, the film’s creature is a worthwhile experience to see.
The Peter O’Toole and Donald Pleasence flick, “Power Play,” has no set date, but looks like a great little political thriller that Code Red has been promoting for quite a while now.
The 1995 never released Horror Comedy, “Night of the Dribbler” which is about a killer with a basketball head. That film is set to be released on September 8.
Sadly, this week marked the passing of “Night of the Dribbler” star and frequent “Match Game” guest, Fred Travalena. He was 66 years old and never got to see the release of this film. He did record a commentary track for the movie.
August is rounded out with two Exploitation Cinema releases, which are always a fun treat. “Deliver Us Evil” and “Fox Affair” is on one release and on the other are “Teenage Graffiti” and “Teenage Mother.”
Code Red and Media Blasters also co-produced two releases, “Riot on 42nd Street” and “Scream” (1981) that were due out, but were indefinitely postponed. Fans are eagerly awaiting release news on these two films to no avail.
However, the saddest DVD news information comes from Warner Brothers, who have seemingly canceled their release of “Ode to Billy Joe.” Already rescheduled twice this year, the Robby Benson and Glynnis O’Connor (“Jeremy”)Â film has vanished from Amazon’s listing. The film was based on the hit song of the same title and creates a possible theory as to why Billy Joe jumped off the bridge.
July will welcome Volume 15 from Shout Factory of “Mystery Science Theatre 3000.” Featuring one of their all time best episodes, “Zombie Nightmare,” which will have you howling in delight at the awful Adam West (“The Happy Hooker Goes To Hollywood”) performance.
Severin is setting a high sticker price of $34.95 for the Roger Corman Drive-In classic, “Screwballs.†[A nice change of pace for the company, since they recently have been releasing extremely obscure foreign movies.] They are also working on a double disc of an underrated Science Fiction film, “Hardware” featuring Iggy Pop.
September 15th Paramount will release Deluxe Editions of “Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood” and “Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan.” The disc will be filled with deleted gore footage on both discs. The only drawback will be some of the newer supposedly funny footage shot by fans which is a fake documentary on the aftermath of Jason Voorhies in the Crystal Lake area. This is something fans really aren’t interested in.
The great DVD series, “42nd Street Forever” will be releasing Volume five on September 29. The series is an oddball collection of various Grindhouse trailers, but also help for anyone looking for a new movie to see.
And finally, Columbia is finally releasing the long awaited Horror classic, “Night of the Creeps” on October 20. Currently, Amazon.com is allowing fans to vote for which DVD cover will be used on the release.
Stay tuned to ReviewFix for the latest in cult news and feel free to e-mail and comment on any upcoming titles.
Leave a Reply