Re-animator 4K (1985)

"Fantastic 4K Restoration of an All-Time Classic"

Second Sight have produced a gorgeous, extras-packed edition of Stuart Gordon's classic film of H P Lovecraft's story for RE-ANIMATOR's 40th anniversary, and are releasing a new 4K restoration of the film as both a limited edition UHD / Blu-ray combo and separate standard UHD and Blu-ray editions.

Medical student Herbert West, fresh from a gory fracas in Zurich, joins Miskatonic Medical School to continue his research into the reanimation of dead tissue on the sly with the assistance of his slightly unwilling colleague Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott). However his reagent doesn't work terribly well, except in the worst possible case, and soon he has to deal with his recently decapitated research rival and lecturer Dr Carl Hill (David Gale) who has designs on Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton) the Dean's daughter and Dan's girlfriend. 

A frenetic, frenzied approach to adapting Lovecraft that skilfully adds generous doses of humour and sex to produce a work of manic genius on a par with Herbert West himself, Stuart Gordon’s RE-ANIMATOR made deserved instant stars (at least in the exploitation world) of some of its cast. Along with George A Romero’s contemporaneous DAY OF THE DEAD it also elevated the reputation of both mad scientist and zombie movies to new levels. The nifty screenplay takes the essence of Lovecraft’s story (something Gordon and screenwriter Dennis Paoli would later do successfully with DAGON, their adaptation of The Shadow Over Innsmouth) and deftly turns something pretty turgid (try reading it) into one of the classics of the genre. 

        Gordon works wonders with an obviously small budget (rehearsal time and Gordon’s theatre experience helped) and credit should be given to Richard Band’s score which, while derivative in places (especially that main title theme), hits just the right note of twinkle-in-the-eye ‘you won’t believe what’s coming next’ so many times that he can be forgiven the steals from Bernard Herrmann. But the film belongs to Jeffrey Combs, who in his performance as Herbert West created an icon of modern horror – one who refreshingly could talk, didn’t solve all his problems with a machete, and had actually been to university. Even if he had been thrown out for making his professor’s eyeballs explode.

REANIMATOR has always looked a little grainy (and a lot grainy on VHS transfers) but Second Sight's 4K restoration is a thing of beauty. Even if you have every other version of REANIMATOR on disc, in fact especially if you do, you're going to want this to marvel at what a terrific restoration job has been performed, with clearer image, more vivid colours and deeper blacks with no picture noise. Really excellent.

New extras kick off with a commentary track by Eddie Falvey who literally wrote a book on the film and knows his stuff, offering a fact-packed track that's well worth a listen. Mike Muncer provides a 10 minute 'primer' video essay on H P Lovecraft using THE THING, FROM BEYOND and others as illustration. Reanimator at 40 has Combs and Crampton in conversation with producer Brian Yuzna for 45 minutes, and there are new interview with editor Lee Percy (15 minutes) and actor Carolyn Purdy-Gordon (14 minutes). Legacy & Impact is 18 minutes in which film-makers Joe Lynch, Mike Mendez, Nicholas McCarthy and others talk about the impression the film made on them. 

Older extras include Barbara Crampton in Conversation - a record of her 2015 Frightfest interview with Alan Jones (37 minutes) and Nucleus Films' Guide to Lovecraftian Horror from 2016,  nearly hour long piece in which Chris Lackey guides you expertly through the sub-genre. Reanimator Resurretcus is an Anchor Bay piece with cast and crew from 2007 (69 minutes) and oldest of all are interviews from 2002 with Gordon and Yuzna (49 minutes), writer Dennis Paoli (11 minutes), composer Richard Band (15 minutes) and Fangoria editor Tony Timpone (5 minutes). Also included is the 'Integral Cut' which runs 104 minutes, 23 minutes of extended scenes, one deleted scene and the usual trailers, TV spots and still galleries. Second Sight's limited edition also comes with a 120 page book with new writing on the film, six art cards and a slipcase to keep it all in.

 

Stuart Gordon's REANIMATOR in 4K is being released in a limited edition UHD / Blu-ray combo as well as standard edition UHD and Blu-ray editions on Monday 15th September 2025

Eyes Without a Face 4K (1960)

The very first film I wrote about for House of Mortal Cinema gets a sparkling 4K restoration release on UHD, Apple TV and Amazon Prime courtesy of the BFI.

Plastic surgeon Dr Genessier (Pierre Brasseur) has, through his careless driving, caused extensive damage to the face of his daughter Christianne (Edith Scob). Being the kind of surgeon usually encountered in pulp horror fiction of the period, Genessier hasn’t heard of trying to take skin grafts from elsewhere on Christianne’s body to try and improve her appearance, even though he gives a lecture on the subject at the start of the film. But why should he when he lives so near Paris and there’s a bevy of beautiful women whom he can kidnap and graphically remove the faces of in increasingly desperate acts of transplantation?

With its pulpy source material it’s not surprising that George Franju’s film kick-started a subgenre of horror cinema that concentrated on the lurid rather than the lyrical aspects of his movie. The tale of the surgeon responsible for destroying his own daughter’s face and willing to do anything to repair his actions is the stuff of pulp paperback luridness, and Franju certainly elevates it way above its penny dreadful potential, making as fine a horror film as one could hope for with the material. 

Apart from the nasty bits there’s a pervasive gloom to the film that serves to augment the desperate situation of its central character, wandering her father’s isolated country mansion, a literally faceless wraith assumed dead by the rest of the world. One imagines the city-set scenes at the police station and its environs would be grey even if the picture were in colour, and it never seems to stop raining. Almost from the beginning there is no suggestion that the film is going to end anything other than badly, which is possibly why the final scene is all the more moving, simultaneously suggesting hope and hopelessness, freedom and utter loneliness.  

EYES WITHOUT A FACE was made in 1959 but it’s best viewed out of context with contemporary horror cinema of the time, when Hammer was well on its way to becoming the most successful producer of horror films in the world, Hitchcock was about to make PSYCHO, and British company Anglo Amalgamated had just released Michael Powell’s PEEPING TOM. Compared with these slicker movies the Franju film seems a bit creaky. The horror is no less effective, but nevertheless the movie feels as if it belongs to a different age, making the surgical scenes and the deaths at the climax possibly even more shocking and unexpected. 

As I’ve mentioned above, the BFI’s 4K transfer looks excellent, and really gives this film a new lease of life. Extras include a new commentary track from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas with the archival commentary track by Tim Lucas also present and correct. We also get Mark Kermode's introduction to the film from 2016 (3 minutes), a fifty minute Franju career overview (LES FLEURS MALADIVES), an interview with Edith Scob from 2014 (17 minutes), and two short films: MONSIEUR ET MADAME CURIE is fourteen minutes long and tells of the work of the scientists from the point of view of Marie Curie; and LE PREMIER NUIT, which comes with a Georges Delerue score and tells the twenty minute tale of a young boy spending a night on the Metro. The disc also comes with a reversible sleeve featuring new art and a booklet with archival writing on the film. 

Georges Franju's EYES WITHOUT A FACE is out on 4K UHD, Apple TV and Amazon Prime from the BFI on Monday 20th October 2025

The House by the Cemetery (1981)

"Arrow Give a Fulci Classic the UHD Treatment"

One of the all-time classics of Italian horror cinema gets a UHD release from Arrow, utilising Blue Underground's 4K scan and including all the new extras from their US release for UK viewers to now enjoy, as well as including a plentiful pile of archival extras as well.

So which is the best of the seminal horror films Lucio Fulci directed in the late 1970s and early 1980s? HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is certainly in the running and it's a fine example of the director's approach to horror cinema. It has a horrible premise, plenty of graphic gore, a fantastically monstrous creation responsible for it all, and an ending that culminates in arguably the most nightmarish sequence the director ever created. The fact that ultimately the film doesn't make a lot of sense will by the icing on the cake to enthusiasts, while being a possible stumbling block for those who aren't. 

I'm not going to reveal much about the plot because if you're a horror fan and you've never seen HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY you're in for a treat, suffice to say that, over 40 years since it was made, it remains the ultimate in mad zombie doctor horror films.

Arrow's 4K UHD presentation looks excellent, with a crisp, clear, chilly feel to the picture that has never been quite so successfully presented in previous transfers.  Extras kick off with the new commentary recorded for Blue Underground by Troy Howarth, as well as two archival commentaries, one with star Catriona MacColl and the other with star Sylvia Collatina.

The other new extras from Blue Underground's 4K are also included, consisting of a new interview with co-writer Giorgio Mariuzzo, a Catriona MacColl Q&A, and an interview with Stephen Thrower. There's also a ton of other interviews with cast and crew (including the one with Giovanni Frezza where he apologises for the dubbing of Bob even though he had nothing to do with it), a deleted scene, alternate credits with different music, a cast Q&A from 12 years ago, trailers, TV spot and image galleries.

Exclusive to Arrow's set is limited edition packaging with a reversible sleeves featuring new and original art, plus a 60 page perfect bound book featuring new writing on the film, a fold-out double-sided poster and six double-sided collector's postcards.

Lucio Fulci's HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY is out on limited edition 4K UHD from Arrow Films on Monday 9th October 2023

Edge of Sanity (1988)

"Highly Enjoyable Version of the Jekyll & Hyde Story"

Victorian London viewed through a 1980s pop art video lens gets a new lease of life as Arrow releases Gerard Kikoïne's unique, fascinating, and highly underrated adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic.

Dr Henry Jekyll (Anthony Perkins with a limp) is a physician who has developed a new kind of local anaesthetic. One night in the lab his test monkey accidently spills ether onto an open petri dish of it. A few sniffs later and Jekyll becomes Jack Hyde (Anthony Perkins without a limp but with white face makeup and looking like Cramps lead singer Lux Interior after one too many heavy nights).

Jack Hyde wanders off into London and here's where the film starts to get interesting. Led down an alley by a girl wearing distinctly 1980s getup he finds himself in a Ken Russell-themed fetish club. Unable to satisfy his urges he ends up killing prostitutes. The police are baffled (but then it doesm't look as if it takes much). Jekyll's wife (Glynis Barber) finally works out what's going on but is it too late?

Much maligned on its original UK release in a severely truncated version, EDGE OF SANITY is a far more interesting, entertaining and accomplished picture than 1980s critics claimed and if you've steered clear of it for that reason (as I'll admit I had) than I urge you to give this one another go. Perkins is excellent in an performance of such over the top intensity one assumes he had so much fun doing that sort of thing for Ken Russell's CRIMES OF PASSION (1984) that he wanted to do the same thing all over again. 

Production design and photography are equal highlights. Jekyll's lab looks (refreshingly) like no Victorian laboratory ever did - all white tile and bottles of blue fluid - and while Henry's days are lit blandly, Hyde's world is dayGlo Madonna video hell. As for the rest of the acting, Glynis Barber is fine in a pretty thankless role while David Lodge of COCKLESHELL HEROES (one for the Spike Milligan fans there) and numerous Robert Hartford-Davis projects turns in a brief role as Jekyll's lawyer.

The special features on Arrow's disc also make this disc a must-have. First off is a commentary track by David Flint and Sean Hogan. Thankfully both are fans of the film so we get a wholly appreciative commentary that includes discussion of star Perkins, producer Harry Alan Towers, director Gerard Kikoïne and the filming locations. Any commentary that includes mention of both Jess Franco and Nabokov gets my attention and this is one that's essential listening for EuroHorror fans.

Stephen Thrower provides 26 minutes of appreciation and production history with his usual meticulous attention to detail as regards how the movie came to be. He also mentions Frederic Talgorn's music score which is indeed quite marvellous. Dr Clare Smith (author of Jack the Ripper in Film & Culture) provides an erudite talk about the film in relation to other presentations of Jack the Ripper in cinema. Edward's Edge is 12 minutes with producer Edward Simons who has some good stories to tell about how he placated Anthony Perkins at vital moments during the film's production.

Finally, we get 45 minutes worth of interviews with director Gerard Kikoïne who has plenty of stories to tell about the French erotica genre in which he worked extensively, how he kept Oliver Reed under control (there's a book in all these Ollie stories that are surfacing on Blu-ray), and how he came to work on the film. M. Kikoïne comes across as an engaging, enthusiastic individual who seems to have enjoyed his offbeat career. An excellent package from Arrow and an essential purchase for EuroHorror fans.

Gerard Kikoïne's EDGE OF SANITY is out on Blu-ray from Arrow on 20th June 2o22

Karloff At Columbia (1935 - 1942)

"An Essential Set"

Eureka are releasing a Blu-ray set of six splendid films that Boris Karloff made for Columbia Pictures in the 1930s and 1940s, consisting of THE BLACK ROOM and five mad doctor pictures. Previously this set has only been available on a Region 1 DVD set. You can now safely replace that with this, which also comes with excellent commentary tracks on every film. Here's what's on them in more detail:

Disc One

The Black Room (1935)

The earliest film in the set is a full-blooded period gothic set mainly in the early nineteenth century. Twins are born to the de Berghmann family and they both grow up to be Boris Karloff in dual roles as Gregor (the evil one) and Anton (the good one). In order to maintain control of the estate Gregor kills Anton and impersonates him, paralysed right arm and all. But the prophecy that Anton will kill Gregor in the black room of the title is yet to be fulfilled.

Terrific production design and skilful direction from Roy William Neill (Universal's FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN amongst others) combined with two fine performances from Karloff mean THE BLACK ROOM is at least the equal of some of Universal's gothics of the period, even if it's not as well known. Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons provide an engaging fact-packed commentary track covering the careers of many of the actors featured, the subject of twins in cinema, Roy William Neill's fascination with ravens and much more.

The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)

Karloff is Dr Henryk Savaard, creator of an artificial heart. His first experiment on a human subject results in death not because of the device but because his nurse calls the police before the experiment is over. Sentenced to death he swears revenge on those who sent him to hang and when he's up and about again, thanks to his assistant, that's exactly what he does.

The commentary track on this one is from Stephen Jones & Kim Newman who, as is usual for them, exhibit such knowledge and enthusiasm that there's barely space on the soundtrack for both of them to get all their facts and opinions out. I especially liked that if the film had been set in California it would have had to be called THE MAN THEY COULD NOT GAS and I agree with Kim Newman that the final act deserved another fifteen minutes to fit in three more killings.

The Man With Nine Lives (1940)

After twenty minutes of set up we finally get to see Karloff - encased in ice! This time he's Dr Leon Kravaal, experimenter with cryogenics, who has frozen himself and those who doubted him in the caves beneath his creepy old isolated island home. He's defrosted but has forgotten the formula for his revolutionary treatment, which is the cue for further underground experiments. Compared to THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG what this one lacks in vitality it makes up for with the claustrophobia of most of the film being set in a couple of small rooms.

It had never occurred to me before, but the Newman and Jones commentary track quite rightly alludes to MAN WITH NINE LIVES feeling in the tradition of stories from the US magazine Weird Tales, with both this and its predecessor firmly in the 'shudder pulp' tradition. Their commentary this time makes for a good 'follow on' from MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG and is therefore worth listening to after that one.

Karloff on Radio

Two stories from the Inner Sanctum radio series - The Corridor of Doom and The Wailing Wall. Both are great fun to listen to, and the references to Liptons Tea (the show's sponsor) beforehand actually serve to help turn the clock back and weirdly improve the listening experience.

Disc Two

Before I Hang (1940)

Karloff is Dr John Garth (and not Gaarth despite recurring writer Karl Brown's name being once again in the credits). Sentenced to death for euthanasia he spends his remaining days  perfecting an anti-aging serum that has the side effect of turning him into strangler, and when he's unexpectedly pardoned that's exactly what he keeps on doing. Better paced that MAN WITH NINE LIVES this keeps you so enthralled you don't even realise you've been listening to five minutes of Chopin's Etude No.12 in C Minor near the end. Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons provide the commentary duties on this one with plenty of detail on cast and crew, & Mr Rigby even mentions the Lindbergh cardiac pump that possibly formed the inspiration for one of the devices seen in this one.

The Devil Commands (1941)

Taking its inspiration from William Sloane's excellent Nigel Kneale-esque novel of cosmic horror The Edge of Running Water this sees Karloff's Dr Julian Blair attempting to 'pierce the veil' to see what lies beyond death after his wife is killed and he believes she is trying to contact him through his new brainwave machine. Some bland voice overs from Amanda Duff and some fumbled direction from Edward Dmytryk who gave us CAPTIVE. WILD WOMAN makes THE DEVIL COMMANDS less effective than it could have been but there's still some marvellous mad doctor stuff in this one. Stephen Jones & Kim Newman return for commentary duties, talking about the William Sloane novel on which the film is based, the career of Edward Dmytryk and lots more.

The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)

The final film in Columbia's mad doctor series is strictly played for laughs as Karloff's mad doctor sells his house to pay off the mortgage imposed on him by the town doctor / sheriff / notary / moneylender, played by Peter Lorre. Karloff stays in the house to continue his experiments on travelling salesmen as he tries to perfect a race of supermen to help the war effort and convinces Lorre to help him. The interplay between the two stars is a delight, making up for some somewhat tired slapstick old dark house shenanigans. Your tolerance for screwball comedies of then 1940s will dictate how well you'll get on with this one. Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons return to provide the final commentary track of the set.

Karloff on the Radio

Two more tales from the Inner Sanctum radio series - Birdsong for a Murderer and Death For Sale round out the second disc.

With the transfers, commentaries and assorted extras (including stills and poster galleries for each film) this is an essential set. It would be wonderful if Eureka could do the same with the Region 1 six film MGM set of years past that also included Newman and Jones commentaries on movies like Tod Browning's MARK OF THE VAMPIRE. Failing that, how about giving us a three disc set of BELA LUGOSI AT MONOGRAM?

KARLOFF AT COLUMBIA is out in a two disc Blu-ray set from Eureka on Monday 3rd May 2021

Breeder (2020)

 

"Danish Mad Gynaecologist Torture Porn"

There's plenty of social commentary in Jens Dahl's grim science fiction horror thriller as well, but if you go in with your expectations set at the above then chances are you won't be disappointed, especially if you're a fan of movies like Pascal Laugier's MARTYRS (2008) and Bustillo & Maury's L'INTERIEUR (2007). BREEDER, which can also fit into the 'Extreme EuroHorror' subgenre, is getting a UK Blu-ray release from Eureka after playing at last October's Frightfest.

Mad vet Dr Isabel Ruben (Signe Eghom Olsen) is researching ways to prolong life and has succeeded to the point where wealthy men are prepared to pay for her services. Unfortunately those services require her to kidnap women, inseminate them with her client's DNA and then harvest cells from the resultant baby to produce her youth serum. Mia (Sara Hjort Ditlevsen) discovers that her husband is helping fund the research and goes to investigate, and ends up as one of the test subjects herself.

Filled with brandings, beatings and women in cages forced to bear children, BREEDER starts off a little like Brandon Cronenberg's ANTIVIRAL with its clinical TV advertising and rich clientele before veering off into Pete Walker HOUSE OF WHIPCORD territory with its ineffectual male lead, ruthless villainess and general sense of hopelessness, before finally 'coming out' as a social commentary piece. There's a stark contrast between the sterility of people's homes and place of business compared with the grim and grimy 'factory' where the nuts and bolts of the biological processes are carried out.

There's no real attempt to explain the science of what is going on - there's talk of telomeres and at one point Dr Ruben mentions Rapamycin (an immunosuppressive drug first isolated from organisms found on Rapa Nui on Easter Island - don't say you never learn anything here), but that's not really the point.

The only extra is a short (just under ten minute) interview with Dahl (who wrote PUSHER for Nicolas Winding Refn) and screenwriter Sissel Dalgaard Thomsen, both of whom show a welcome embrace of horror as a genre, believing it to be the last place where serious social issues can be tackled in an extreme way, which they certainly achieve with BREEDER. Eureka's disc comes with a booklet containing an essay by Kat Ellinger who suggests the film could be considered as a modern-day vampire story. 

Jens Dahl's BREEDER is out on Blu-ray from Eureka on Monday 15th February 2021