Sinister Cinema

This is a moody, disturbing Euro-thriller dealing with demonic possession. Lavi is great as a beautiful young woman whom the townsfolk believe is possessed by a demon. Watch for the riveting sequence where she writhes as though possessed. Lavi seems to relish her possession, and tries to conjure up curses and bewitch people. One of her targets is the man she is obsessed with (Wolff) but who is scheduled to be married. There are numerous scenes where priests, townsfolk, and family try to rid...

The setting is 1925. After breaking out of an asylum for the insane, a medical student finds that he's a dead-ringer for an heir to a fortune. Assuming the heir's identity, he soon makes his way to a sinister island ruled by a web-fingered mad scientist and his minions of malformed men and women. The last hour of this film is like nothing you have ever seen with many shocking moments of terror and torture. Incredible. This would undoubtedly be rated R for nudity and violence. Banned in its...

A great murder thriller that examines the fine line between brilliance and insanity. Mason is excellent as a famed surgeon, unhappily married, who falls for another woman, unhappily married herself. When a death occurs, Mason is driven to do his own detective work and determine whether it was murder. He soon finds himself considering murder himself. Mason's real life wife, Pamela almost steals the show as a beautiful femme fatale. Literate script and fine acting with some great twists.

What a find! We were jumping up and down with joy when this ultra-ultra rarity was made available to us. Most collectors have never seen (we had never even heard of it) this made-for-TV version of the classic Mary Roberts Rinehart chiller. What a cast, too! Hayes is terrific as the aged Mrs. Van Gorder, mistress of the mysterious mansion where "the Bat" is on the loose. Hamilton is in fine form as her trembling servant. Robards is great as the hard-driving detective Anderson. Great atmosphere...

What a remarkable fantasy-horror-adventure film! A beautiful female demon comes to control the soul of a mighty samurai warrior who has abandoned his wife because she was taken by another warrior. Together along with a small army of cutthroats they plan the takeover a regional capital city. They battle against another mighty warrior (whose wife they have captured) and his band of fierce fighters. This film is filled with many chilling scenes featuring all kinds of horrible monsters including a...

This sword and sandal spectacle was directed by Jacques Tourneur of Val Lewton fame and featured cinematography by Italian horror master, Mario Bava. Reeves (who looks incredible) plays a courageous Greek hero whose muscle-bound heroics are the source of deadly frustration for the invading Persians. The final battle scene is very memorable with ships with "jaws" and underwater spearmen. Cool. Plenty of excitement and adventure in what is considered one of Reeves' best films.

Hoot's a Hollywood movie-cowboy who gets in a jam when he poses as a two-gun outlaw from Texas. He soon finds himself caught in the middle of a dispute between a shady "development" company and the local ranchers. He also finds time to fall for Blanche Mehaffey, who's a real cutie. This is a great early Gibson effort that we definitely recommend.

SPECIAL ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN EDITON: The setting is London in the late 1880s. The monstrous killer, Jack the Ripper, is on the prowl, killing women left and right. Palance is the mysterious stranger who rents the gloomy attic room of a Victorian house run by Frances (Aunt Bee) Bavier. He needs the reclusivity of the room for his "experiments." Every time there is a new Ripper killing, Bavier begins to suspect more and more that her new lodger is actually Jack the Ripper himself. Things become...

SPECIAL ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN EDITON: A scientific supercity is the setting for weird experiments, torture, and intrigue. Mitchell is a warrior who enters the legendary city of Atlantis. He struggles against the evil master of the city, whose super-science schemes threaten the lives of all, including his young son. This is a magical, mystical epic, filled with moody, atmospheric music, which embellish the film's Mario-Bava style cinematography.

A gorgeous young lady enters a sinister castle for the reading of a willl. Soon she discovers that the folks in the castle are all in fact dead and her decision to live with them turns into a nightmare. Unable to leave, she's drawn into a macabre underworld through visions of nude satanic rituals and her own impending sacrifice. Franco's fans love this steamy movie. Rated R for violence and lots of full nudity.

Here are four Poverty Row movies on two discs, all from Grand National: HERE'S FLASH CASEY (1938) Eric Linden, Boots Mallory, Cully Richards, Holmes Herbert. Linden, in the title role, finds that after working his way through college as a photographer, the actual newspaper industry is a lot tougher than he expects! NAVY SPY (1937) Conrad Nagel, Eleanor Hunt, Judith Allen, Jack Doyle. Nagel's a smooth federal agent who, along with nosey reporter Eleanor Hunt, go after a gang that has kidnapped...

A superb six-part Brit mini-series (on two discs). Johns and Windsor play two modern detectives who set out to reconstruct the various Ripper murders and prove the killer's identity. They have their writing board with all the victims' names on it. It's done in a "Dragnet style" police procedural manner, with much of the episodes told in flashback. A real dilemma is faced when they come uncomfortably close to revealing the killer's actual identity. Some of this may sound a little on the dry...