News

1968’s The Blood of Fu Manchu and 1969’s The Castle of Fu Manchu will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on July 29 from Blue Underground.

They’re the final two films in which horror legend Christopher Lee plays the titular Chinese supervillain, preceded by 1965’s The Face of Fu Manchu, 1966’s The Brides of Fu Manchu, and 1967’s The Vengeance of Fu Manchu.

Both movies are directed by Jess Franco (Vampyros Lesbos) and written and produced by Harry Alan Towers (The Mangler).

They’ve each been newly restored in 4K from the uncut original camera negatives with Dolby Vision Hdr and DTS-hd Master Audio.

Also known as Kiss and Kill and Against All Odds, The Blood of Fu Manchu co-stars Tsai Chin, Maria Perschy, Howard Marion-Crawford, and Richard Greene.

Special Features:

Audio Commentary with Film Historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson (new) The Rise of Fu Manchu – Interviews with Director Jess Franco,...

Jess Franco’s The Bloody Judge, which was theatrically released in the U.S. by Aip under the nonsensical title of Night of the Blood Monster, is one of the filmmaker’s most lavish productions. It’s one that, absent the outrageous lashings of sadistic violence and nudity that are common to Franco’s work, could almost pass for mainstream cinema.

As a helpful voiceover informs the viewer while the opening credits roll, The Bloody Judge is set in 1684, during the last days of King James II, on the eve of the Glorious Revolution that put William and Mary on the throne. Allegiance to the current king is paramount to the storyline, providing the motivation behind the increasingly sadistic actions of Judge Jeffries (Christopher Lee). Like Michael Reeves’s Witchfinder General, from 1968, Franco’s film pits its youthful protagonists against the hypocrisy and intolerance of an authoritarian regime.

This is...

Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man) gives one of his most unforgettable performances as Judge Jeffreys, the infamous 17th-century witchfinder whose unholy obsession with a luscious wench (Maria Rohm of Eugenie) fuels a jaw-dropping spree of torture, brutality and flesh-ripping perversion. Howard Vernon (Succubus), Margaret Lee (Five Golden Dragons), Maria Schell (99 Women), and Oscar nominee Leo Genn (Quo Vadis) co-star in this landmark epic of sexual violence and sadism, complete with a superb score by Bruno Nicolai (Count Dracula) and directed with spectacularly deviant glee by the one and only Jess Franco (Venus in Furs).

Night of the Blood Monster is available on 4K Uhd Blu-ray on March 26.

Enter for your chance to win a 4K Uhd Blu-ray of Night of the Blood Monster, courtesy of Blue Underground. Two (2) winners will be selected at random.

Here’s how to enter:

Step 1: Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Step 2:...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

Contagion 4K Uhd from Warner Bros.

Contagion will infect 4K Ultra HD on February 27 via Warner Bros. The 2011 thriller has been newly restored in 4K from the original camera negative, overseen by director Steven Soderbergh, with High Dynamic Range.

The ensemble cast features Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, and Sanaa Lathan. Scott Z. Burns (The Bourne Ultimatum) wrote the script.

Three previously released featurettes are included: “The Reality of Contagion,” “The Contagion Detectives,” and “Contagion: How a Virus Changes the World.”

Body Double Vinyl Soundtrack from Waxwork Records

The soundtrack from Brain De Palma’s Body Double is coming to vinyl for $40 from Waxwork Records.

Jess Franco’s Night Of The Blood Monster (aka The Bloody Judge) is making it's debut on 4K Uhd. Arriving on March 26, 2024, a brand-new 4K master of the complete uncensored version will be released on both 4K Uhd and Blu-ray, with all new bonus features and extras:

Horror Will Hold You Helpless!

Christopher Lee (The Wicker Man) gives one of his most unforgettable performances as Judge Jeffreys, the infamous 17th Century witchfinder whose unholy obsession with a luscious wench (Maria Rohm of Eugenie) fuels a jaw-dropping spree of torture, brutality and flesh-ripping perversion. Howard Vernon (Succubus), Margaret Lee (Five Golden Dragons), Maria Schell (99 Women) and Oscar® nominee Leo Genn (Quo Vadis) co-star in this landmark epic of sexual violence and sadism, complete with a superb score by Bruno Nicolai (Count Dracula) and directed with spectacularly deviant glee by the one and only Jess Franco (Venus In Furs).

Blue Underground...

In the tradition of Barbarella and Danger: Diabolik comes this swinging ‘60s action orgy as bisexual super-villain Sumuru (the luscious Shirley Eaton of Goldfinger) launches a diabolical plan to enslave the male species with her army of lusty warrior women. But when Sumuru kidnaps a fugitive American playboy, she crosses a sadistic crime boss the sexes that will bring Brazil to its knees in more ways than one. Richard Wyler (The Bounty Killer) and Maria Rohm (Eugenie) co-star in this kinky cult favorite from producer Harry Alan Towers (The Blook of Fu Manchu) and director Jess Franco (Venus in Furs). Also known as Rio 70, Future Women, and The Seven Secrets of Sumuru, The Girl from Rio is now presented in a brand-new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, totally uncut and uncensored with all its eye-popping nudity, torture, and lesbianism in Dolby Vision Hdr!

Enter for your chance...

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! While you’re off enjoying some much-needed downtime with friends and family, we’ve gone ahead and put together a recap of this week’s horror and sci-fi home entertainment releases that are coming our way on May 30th.

For those of you cult film aficionados out there, get those wallets ready, because there’s a bunch of great titles arriving on Blu-ray this Tuesday, including Blackenstein, Evil Ed, The Blood of Fu Manchu / The Castle of Fu Manchu double feature, The Hearse, The Undertaker, Slaughterhouse Rock, and Hide and Go Shriek.

As far as new genre films go, The Blackcoat’s Daughter (one of my personal favorites of 2017) and Rupture are making their way to Blu-ray and DVD, with the Shock-o-Rama box set also coming out on DVD.

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (Lionsgate, Blu-ray & DVD)

Beautiful and haunted Joan (Emma Roberts) makes...

Dark Horse's The Strange Case of the Disappearing Man comic book series tops today's Horror Highlights, which also includes Wizard World Cleveland, new releases (respectively) from Cavity Colors and Blue Underground, Apocalypse Kiss, and the New Jersey Horror Con.

The Strange Case of the Disappearing Man Comic Book Series: Press Release: "Milwaukie, Ore., (March 14, 2017)—Victorian horror fans, rejoice! Dark Horse is delighted to announce the follow-up to 2011’s cult classic The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde, with The Strange Case of the Disappearing Man. Mr. Hyde’s Cole Haddon brings fans even more Thomas Adye adventures, while Sebastián Cabrol (Thief: Tales from the City, Caliban) lends his beautiful art to the story, and Hernán Cabrera (Caliban) brings the art to life with his gorgeously grotesque color palette.

The Strange Case of the Disappearing Man finds Inspector Thomas Adye of Scotland Yard struggling to return to normalcy after his run-in with...

Ten strangers. One hotel. One item on the agenda: murder. Tensions escalate as the body count rises in Peter Collinson's And Then There Were None, a 1974 adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians that's coming out on Blu-ray with a new HD master from Scorpion Releasing, Variety Films, and Kino Video in 2017.

From Scorpion Releasing: "Scorpion Releasing, in conjunction with Variety Films, coming in 2017, from a brand new 2016 HD master, Peter Collinson's Ten Little Indians (aka And There Were None) starring Oliver Reed, Richard Attenborough, Herbert Lom, Elke Sommers, Maria Rohm, Stephane Audran, Charles Aznavour, Gert Frobe, Adolfo Celi and Orson Welles. It will be released on DVD and BluRay, and sold at retailers via Kino."

Synopsis (via Blu-ray.com): "A group is invited, under false pretenses, to an isolated hotel in the Iranian desert. After dinner, a cassette tape accuses them all of crimes that they have gotten away with.

Michael Ealy is joining the fourth season cast of the Being Mary Jane TV show on Bet, starring Gabrielle Union. Ealy played Theo in the third and final season of The Following, which was cancelled by Fox in 2015. He also starred as the android Dorian, in Almost Human, which Fox also cancelled, after just one season.Per Deadline, Ealy joins Being Mary Jane as new Great Day USA producer, Justin Talbot. The report says, "...unfortunately for Mary Jane, also is the man who previously got her fired from CNN. Upon arriving at Great Day USA, he remains a thorn in Mary Jane’s side, and she must learn to cleverly circumvent his power plays."Read More…...

June is ending on a quiet note for horror and sci-fi home entertainment releases, as we only have six titles coming our way on June 28th.

Blue Underground has shown some love to two cult classics with their Blu-ray double feature of Circus of Fear and Five Golden Dragons, and Arrow Video is resurrecting another cult classic (albeit one that is a bit more recent) with their Return of the Killer Tomatoes Special Edition Blu-ray.

Other notable titles being released this Tuesday include Alien Strain, Shark Exorcist, Forgotten Tales, and Hotel Inferno.

Alien Strain (Mti Home Video, DVD)

After his girlfriend vanishes without a trace on a camping trip, he quickly goes from witness to suspect. Now, a year later, she returns to the very spot from which she was taken, but not like she was before.

Circus of Fear/Five Golden Dragons Double Feature (Blue Underground, Blu-ray)

Circus Of Fear...

Reviewed by Kevin Scott, MoreHorror.com

Venus in Furs (1969)

Written by: Jess Franco, Malvin Wald, Milo G. Cuccia, Carlo Fadda, Bruno Leder.

Directed by Jess Franco

Cast: James Darren (Jimmy Logan), Maria Rohm (Wanda Reed), Klaus Kinski (Ahmed Kortobawi), Margaret Lee (Olga), Barbara McNair (Rita)

This may be the oldest film that I have reviewed thus far for More Horror. I had almost forgotten that in was in my Netflix roster, and through some celluloid serendipity, or more specifically, me forgetting about updating my snail mail DVD queue, Venus in Furs comes in the mail. There are two names attached to this surreal piece of erotic horror. Jess Franco which is quite expected, and then James Darren. What? I only remember him from the Shatner show “T.J. Hooker”, but I think my mom really liked him. She might have even considered him “dreamy”. I looked him up and sure enough,...

Holliston: Friendship is Tragic, the graphic novel based on the Holliston TV series from Adam Green (Frozen), features characters from the show and will be released in October. Also: Alexandre Aja’s curator collection on Shudder, Circus of Fear and Five Golden Dragons double feature Blu-ray details, a Viktorville poster, and a Shark Exorcist trailer.

Holliston: Press Release: “Source Point Press has announced they are currently in production on a graphic novel titled “Holliston: Friendship is Tragic”, based on the horror sit-com Holliston tv series created by filmmaker Adam Green. This announcement coincides with Source Point’s debut publisher booth at C2E2 in Chicago, and to celebrate the announcement the first promotional image for the comic will be available as a C2E2 exclusive art print limited to only 50 copies. Writer Greg Wright, artist Stephen Sharar, Editor Travis McIntire, and colorist and letterer Joshua Werner will...

Marquis de Sade’s Justine

Written by Harry Alan Towers (as Peter Welbeck)

Directed by Jesús Franco (as Jess Franco)

Italy/USA/Germany/Liechtenstein, 1969

Justine was the first of 30 Jesús Franco films I watched over the past year. While many have been quite enjoyable (and several have been quite deplorable), this 1969 feature remains my favorite. Others come very close, and there is a solid argument that Justine is in fact a mostly uncharacteristic Franco film, but as a movie that shows the genuine, often untapped talent that this eclectically erratic filmmaker possessed, it is exceptional.

Out now on a new Blue Underground Blu-ray, Justine—officially, Marquis de Sade’s Justine—bears the subtitle, “The Misfortunes of Virtue,” which is indeed the essential theme of the picture. Played by an 18-year-old Romina Power (the character is 12 in de Sade’s novel), Justine is “too good to be true,” according to her dubious sister,...

'And Then There Were None' movie with Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, June Duprez, Louis Hayward and Roland Young. 'And Then There Were None' movie remake to be directed by Oscar nominee Morten Tyldum One of the best-known Agatha Christie novels, And Then There Were None will be getting another big-screen transfer. 20th Century Fox has acquired the movie rights to the literary suspense thriller first published in the U.K. (as Ten Little Niggers) in 1939. Morten Tyldum, this year's Best Director Academy Award nominee for The Imitation Game, is reportedly set to direct. The source for this story is Deadline.com, which adds that Tyldum himself “helped hone the pitch” for the acquisition while Eric Heisserer (A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010, The Thing 2011) will handle the screenplay adaptation. And Then There Were None is supposed to have sold more than 100 million copies worldwide, thus holding the...

Is Arrow targeting a nip-and-tuck? Which Chicago Fire-men are clashing? Is Five-0‘s Danny still playing doctor? Does Vikings‘ mystery man make an entrance? When will Syfy get Bitten again? Read on for answers to those questions plus teases from other shows.

Apparently Stephen Amell said at the Dallas Comic Con that the Arrow costume would undergo a change this season. Do you have any details? –Ravi

I ran that by showrunner Marc Guggenheim the other day, and after some thought he allowed this much: “You’ll see a wide variety of changes coming for Arrow. There’s a...

We’re back with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes the Blood Widow trailer and release details, Vengeance Fest lineup details, multiple trailers, and more:

Photos, Release Details, and Trailer for Blood Widow: “One of America’s foremost homes for horror, Midnight Releasing has picked up the highly anticipated fright-flick Blood Widow. The Jeremiah Buckhalt-directed slasher will be available on – among other outlets – Redbox on June 3rd, 2014.

A bloody, creepy cocktail that blends the wickedness of A Nightmare on Elm Street with the dark, macabre seasoning of Candyman, Blood Widow introduces us to horror’s next major slasher icon – and she’s not going away anytime soon!

Danielle Lilley, Brandon Kyle Peters, Christopher de Padua, Jose Miguel Vasquez, and Kelly Kilgore star in a Jeremiah Buckhalt film.

After buying a nice house in the country, Laurie and Hugh,...

It's been more than a decade since the 1990s ended, yet the Internet can't seem to go a day without a reminder of the neon slap bracelets that may have been banned from your school.

Yes, we get it. Times are tough and there's comfort in reflection, but enough is enough.

Below, a final goodbye to the 90s to end the nostalgia once and for all. (We're not kidding. There are 1990 items below.)

1. Scrunchies

2. "The Wild Thornberries"

3. Dawson and Joey

4. "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"

5. Mr. Feeny

7. MTV playing music videos

8. Snick

9. The premiere of "Freaks and Geeks"

10. Levar Burton

11. "Daria"

12. "Arthur"

13. "The Powerpuff Girls"

14. "Smart Guy"

15. Comedy Central globe logo with buildings

16. "The X-Files"

17. Rosie O'Donnell

18. Bill Nye

19. "Dawson's Creek"

20. The Mighty Ducks"

21. "Are You Afraid of the Dark"

22. Cornholio

23. Rachel Green

24. Tim Allen

25. "All That"

26. "Beverly Hills 90210"

27. "Step by Step"

28. "The Ren & Stimpy Show"

29. "The Famous Jett Jackson"

30. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

Spanish director dies following a stroke: Best known for his nearly two hundred underground, "exploitation" films "I think I was born because my father and my mother had sex ... ." Nope, that has nothing to do with the anti-censorship lectured delivered by Oz the Great and Powerful and Interior. Leather Bar's James Franco online. The words above were uttered by another Franco, a Spaniard. No, not the foaming-at-the-mouth right-wing military ruler Francisco Franco, but multitasking filmmaker Jesús Franco, aka Jess Franco aka dozens of other aliases, including those in honor of jazz performers Clifford Brown and James P. Johnson. His oeuvre included about 200 films, among them The White Slave, The Sexual History of O, Macumba Sexual, , Emmanuelle Exposed, Vampyros Lesbos, The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll, and White Cannibal Queen. The director died today in Malaga, a city in southern Spain, after suffering a stroke. According to reports, he had never truly...

The Girl From Rio

Stars: Shirley Eaton, Richard Wyler, George Sanders, Maria Rohm, Herbert Fleischmann, Marta Reves, Elisa Montés, Walter Rilla, Beni Cardoso, Valentina Godoy | Written by Franz Eichhorn, Bruno Leder, Harry Alan Towers | Directed by Jess Franco

There is an argument that films that are described as “so bad they are good” aren’t actually good, they are just bad. What about films though that are bad, they should be seen as bad but you still like them? The Girl from Rio is a film that I can see is bad, I can list ways it just fails yet I will still say I honestly like it. I’m can’t say I’ve seen that many films directed by Jess Franco (though I may have unwittingly seen more than I realise) but the more I see the more I realise the man turned exploitation into an art form,...

The Bloody Judge

Stars: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Hans Haas Jr., Maria Schell, Leo Genn, Margaret Lee | Written by Enrico Colombo, Jesús Franco, Michael Haller, Harry Alan Towers, Anthony Scott Veitch | Directed by Jess Franco

During the sixties and into the seventies the sub-genre of the witch trial films was arguably sprung to life by Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General. Vincent Price created a character that was memorable and strangely likable, even if we wanted him to fail in his dastardly deeds and die a grisly death. With Witchfinder General’s release in 1968. Moving into the seventies there were a number of exploitation movies (or hexploitation), most notably Mark of the Devil and of course Jess Franco’s Il Trono di Fuoco or as we know it The Bloody Judge.

The most interesting thing about The Bloody Judge is that it was based on a real historical figure. Chief Justice Jeffreys...

We’re going old school cult classic for a Monday, so prepare for a new years encounter with murderous witch finders, vampires, lusty warrior women and murderous magicians because Medium rare Entertainment are releasing four icons of cult/classic/horror, from the like of Jess Franco, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. All are being released in January 2013 in the UK on DVD for the very first time. Here’s the low down on each.... The Bloody Judge (1970/ 18/ 89mins) Directed by Jess Franco, with Christopher Lee, Maria Rohn, Leon Gunn. Christopher Lee swops his cape for a wig and gown to play the notorious Judge Jeffreys, a real-life 17th century witchfinder who showed a ruthless, sadistic justice. His growing obsession with a local wench (Maria Rohm) fuels a jaw-dropping spree of torture, brutality and flesh-ripping perversion. Franco, Lee, Maria Rohm are reunited after The Vengeance of Fu Manchuin this lavishly murderous...

We’re going old school cult classic for a Monday, so prepare for a new years encounter with murderous witch finders, vampires, lusty warrior women and murderous magicians because Medium rare Entertainment are releasing four icons of cult/classic/horror, from the like of Jess Franco, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. All are being released in January 2013 in the UK on DVD for the very first time. Here’s the low down on each.... The Bloody Judge (1970/ 18/ 89mins) Directed by Jess Franco, with Christopher Lee, Maria Rohn, Leon Gunn. Christopher Lee swops his cape for a wig and gown to play the notorious Judge Jeffreys, a real-life 17th century witchfinder who showed a ruthless, sadistic justice. His growing obsession with a local wench (Maria Rohm) fuels a jaw-dropping spree of torture, brutality and flesh-ripping perversion. Franco, Lee, Maria Rohm are reunited after The Vengeance of Fu Manchuin this lavishly murderous...

Editors Note: Welcome to the first of instalment of Mondo Squallido, which is a fantastic series of sleazy film reviews from a great YouTuber, and new member of the Blogomatic3000 team, called Pete (aka Mattei of the Dead – which Btw is a fantastic nickname!). You can check out more of Pete’s videos at: http://www.youtube.com/MatteioftheDead

So my fellow sleazeballs, we finally get Mondo Squallido rolling, in all it’s sleazy, scuzzy glory. I figured for the first episode I would ease it in and just slowly titillate and tease your senses of what you can expect from the series…. it was either this or a Japanese girl being taken by a dog with a strapon…. yeah…. Anyways!

This episode we look at a film by one of the most prolific and notorious directors, Jess Franco (Barbed Wire Dolls, Venus In Furs, Succubus) who will probably appear...

Source: FilmShaft - Eurotica Season Planned For The Horror Channel

The Horror Channel are plotting a wonderful season of flicks on the theme of 'Eurotica'. And what does that mean, pray tell? Well it can best be summed up as European horror films with an erotic bent. Think iconic exploitation filmmaker, the mighty Jess Franco.

They've got titles such as Eugenie: The Story of Her Journey Into Perversion, Venus in Furs (isn't that a Velvet Underground song?) and The Bloody Judge - that one stars none other than Sir Christopher Lee. Below is the full press release - so read it.

"Jesus Franco, now a physically frail Octogenarian living in Spain, is regarded as one of the world's best exploitation auteur directors and the Horror Channel is dedicating the month of June to showing four of the higher-budgeted Franco films made in 1969 and 1970, the period when British producer Harry Alan Towers...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Harry Alan Towers, the legendary British producer of low-budget, high-profit B movies, has died at age 88. Towers had a long career and had remained active in the film business. He was working on his autobiography when he died. Towers was a master at selling low-budget movies with one major star in order to broaden international appeal. He worked many times with Sir Christopher Lee, and their collaborative efforts included the highly popular Fu Manchu films of the 1960s. Towers also dabbled in B spy movies and horror films with kinky sexual angles. In the 1990s, he also brought Michael Caine back to the role of Harry Palmer in a series of made-for-cable TV movies. He is survived by his wife, actress Maria Rohm.

(Cinema Retro writer John Exshaw covers the making of the Fu Manchu films in Cinema Retro issue #15, coming this fall. The story includes exclusive...

British film and television producer/writer Harry Alan Towers has died of heart failure. He was 88.

Towers shot to fame as a child actor in the U.K., and went on to make more than 100 films during his career, sometimes producing under the alias Peter Welbeck.

He was working on his autobiography prior to his death on 2 August, according to his literary agent, Albert T. Longden.

As a producer, Towers worked on numerous British TV programmes, including The Scarlet Pimpernel and Tales From Dickens.

He also produced several underground film classics with Spanish director Jess Franco, including Venus in Furs, Eugenie, Marquis de Sade: Justine and Night of the Blood Monster.

Towers worked with numerous A-list stars during his long film career, including Orson Welles, Michael Caine, Richard Harris and Tony Curtis. His best-known movies include The Face of Fu Manchu, Ten Little Indians, Cry the Beloved Country and Klondike Fever.

He is survived by his wife, actress Maria Rohm.