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The Two Best Horror Blu-rays From 2018

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Hey, this year was filled with some amazing blu-ray releases. Arrow, Shout Factory and Vinegar Syndrome leading the way in all sorts of beautifully polished transfers filled with deep cut special features. But, I’ll be totally danged if Blue Underground didn’t come out in the final hours of 2019 with the two titles that took the extraordinary blu-ray release throne.  

The William Lustig founded label has gone and done it. From the 3D slipcovers to the fantastically packaged 3-disc collection, Maniac and Zombie are fucking beauties.

Both of these titles come with each of their respective scores and impressive collector booklets with essays by Michael Gingold and Stephen Thrower.

The Joe Spinell Story on Maniac is really introspective and gets to the heart of the cult favorite actor. A lot of it contains moments that I had no idea about and obviously respects the greatness that Spinell carried with him throughout his varied career.

Maniac also leads with two awesome commentaries. One with William Lustig and Andrew W. Garroni and one with Lustig and the macabre maestro, Tom Savini. Anytime I get a chance to listen to Savini, it is a constant treat. This dude has stories and knows exactly how to tell em.

Blu ray special features:

Audio Commentary #1 with Producer/Director William Lustig and Producer Andrew W. Garroni

Audio Commentary #2 with Producer/Director William Lustig, Special Make-Up Effects Artist Tom Savini, Editor Lorenzo Marinelli, and Joe Spinell’s Assistant Luke Walter

Lucio Fulci’s Zombie remains one of the best of the genre, and looks absolutely gorgeous. If you haven’t seen a zombie fight a shark in underwater battle, you absolutely must see it in 4K transfer.

I have seen both titles many times on different formats but here, both of these films feel like an entirely different experience in the best ways. Sweaty Joe Spinell and wooden splinters piercing eyes balls are brought to t new zenith.

Get a look at the full special features of both discs.

Maniac

Theatrical Trailers

TV Spots

Radio Spots

NEW! MANIAC Outtakes

NEW! Returning to the Scene of the Crime with William Lustig

Anna and the Killer – Interview with Star Caroline Munro

The Death Dealer – Interview with Special Make-Up Effects Artist Tom Savini

Dark Notes – Interview with Composer Jay Chattaway

Maniac Men – Interview with Songwriters Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky

The Joe Spinell Story

Mr. Robbie: Maniac 2 Promo Reel

MANIAC Publicity

MANIAC Controversy Z

NEW! Audio Commentary #1 with Troy Howarth, Author of Splintered Visions: Lucio Fulci and His Films

Audio Commentary #2 with Star Ian McCulloch and Diabolik Magazine Editor Jason J. Slater

NEW! When The Earth Spits Out The Dead – Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of Beyond Terror: The Films of Lucio Fulci

Theatrical Trailers

TV Spots

Radio Spots

Poster & Still Gallery

Guillermo del Toro Intro

Zombie Wasteland – Interviews with Stars Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson & Al Cliver, and Actor/Stuntman Ottaviano Dell’Acqua

Flesh Eaters on Film – Interview with Co-Producer Fabrizio De Angelis

Deadtime Stories – Interviews with Co-Writers Elisa Briganti and (Uncredited) Dardano Sacchetti

World of the Dead – Interviews with Cinematographer Sergio Salvati and Production & Costume Designer Walter Patriarca

Zombi Italiano – Interviews with Special Make-Up Effects Artists Gianetto De Rossi & Maurizio Trani and Special Effects Artist Gino De Rossi

Notes on a Headstone – Interview with Composer Fabio Frizzi

All in the Family – Interview with Antonella Fulci

Zombie Lover – Award-Winning Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro talks about one of his favorite films

Both of these titles are out now and required viewing, must-owns for any self respecting horror fan.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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