THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD & ASYLUM, Peter Duffell & Roy Ward Baker, directors/Second Sight Films  Roy Ward Baker’s Asylum (1972), from a selection of stories written by Robert Bloch, was one of the biggest hits on Amicus’s balance sheets, and for those with memories long enough, its cinema showings were a genuinely kinetic affair, prompting repeated physical responses in the audience (in pre-Exorcist days) that showed its makers had their finger on the pulse of the British Gothic genre (not least involving still-sentient severed body parts wrapped in brown paper). More than most other entries in the field, the film is intrigued by notions of storytelling, as evinced in the wraparound story (the investigation of a group of patients in an asylum to discover the truth about them). While the outward accoutrements show the comfortable aspects of British society, we quickly learn that nothing here is to be taken at face value, and even the comforts of domesticity and happy marriage are not to be trusted. The character Barbara (played by Charlotte Rampling) in one story (‘Lucy Comes To Stay’) has returned to her home after spending time in a sanatorium, but discovers that her brother has hired a nurse to supervise her on a day-to-day basis. The house, for her, is not a comforting place and results in the early showing of the savagery far more lethal than that which had originally occasioned her incarceration. If the most successful episode remains that starring Richard Todd dealing with hideously twitching, carefully packaged human limbs in a freezer (mentioned above), it still has time for quieter pleasures such as the sequence involving Christopher Lee and his possibly malign daughter played by Chloe Franks. While the requisite Guignol moments were checked off, other, more subtle, strategies were work. Given the success of the film, one might speculate why the producer Milton Subotsky could greenlight such misconceived projects as I, Monster (1971, a wholly redundant version of the Jekyll & Hyde story. Other films in the amicus filmography, such as The Psychopath (1966), suggested that the writer Robert Bloch was merely recycling (less effectively) material he had tackled before, but on balance, the company’s successes comprehensively outweigh its failures, such as the discreetly effective The House that Dripped Blood (directed by Peter Duffel in 1971), which demonstrated that suggestion could be as effective as copious ghastliness (despite the come-on title, Duffel’s film is conspicuously bloodless). This limited Edition Blu-ray releases of these two much-loved Amicus films arrive with a slew of extras, including a 40-page booklet.

AMERICAN HORROR PROJECT VOL. 2, Various directors/Arrow Blu-ray  Aficionados of the horror film are usually familiar with the classics of the genre, having visited them time and again. But a particular characteristic of this breed of fan is the unstoppable need to uncover the obscure and less celebrated films. For these driven souls, Arrow’s American Horror Project has already proved to be a treasure trove, unearthing films that have languished in obscurity which are then given a splendid spruce-up by the Arrow technicians. This second volume may not dust off such intriguing entries as its predecessor, but is more than worth the time of the dedicated fan. From a key period of US independent filmmaking, the Arrow series (co-curated by author Stephen Thrower, author of Nightmare USA: The Untold Story of the Exploitation Independents) resumes with a 1970 outing from John Hayes (celebrated for Grave of the Vampire), Dream No Evil, with a young woman’s tracking down her long-lost father – with disastrous results. Dark August (1976) features no less than Kim Hunter (of A Streetcar Named Desire) in a tale of lethal curses and a hit-and-run accident. Finally, Harry Novak’s The Child (1977) has a young girl summoning the dead for bloody revenge. All three films have been newly remastered from the best surviving film elements with copious supplementary material.

INSPECTOR MONTALBANO COLLECTION 9, various directors/Acorn Media International  This stylish, thoroughly escapist Italian series – featuring an important foreign copper — is a police procedural (generally light in tone) delivered with all the quiet skill that has always been a speciality of European filmmakers in this field, and features the late Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Salvo Montalbano. The Sicilian copper (charismatically played by Luca Zingaretti) sports a laser-sharp mind, and is a gourmet whose mind frequently strays to food. Most of all, we know his stamping ground: the beautiful, sleepy territory of Vigàta. And there is the heat – always the heat. As this series shows, Montalbano has a way of finding a clandestine relationship between a host of crimes. These involve dirty doings within the Sicilian Mafia (usually on the periphery) and respectable business institutions. But while the characterisation here is as adroit as one could wish, it’s plotting that remains the chef d’oeuvre of Montalbano. So popular is the series in Italy that Camilleri’s home town changed its name to that in his books – Vigàta.

VOODOO MAN, William Beaudine, director/Fabulous Films Blu-ray  Let’s face, no one could claim that this little seen Bela Lugosi low-budget chiller is anything but poverty row, but the cast alone (which includes Lugosi, John Carradine and a sorely underused George Zucco) is of interest. Released for the first time on DVD and Blu-ray, Voodoo Man has Lugosi as mad scientist Dr Richard Marlowe. The film was lensed in just seven days, beginning October 16, 1943. Although Robert Charles is credited as writing the story and screenplay, there are strong similarities with a story called Tiger Man written by Andrew Colvin which was purchased by the film company in March 1943. Bela Lugosi played Count Dracula in the 1927 Broadway stage adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel. However, Lugosi was not the first choice when it came to making the film. He won the executives over partially by accepting a reduced wage. Filmed by Tod Browning in 1931, Lugosi has become our image of the archetypal vampire. Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferench Dezsõ Blasko, in the village of Lugos, Hungary. He changed his name to Lugosi when he moved to America. Lugosi means of Lugos. Bela Lugosi died in 1956. Prior to the funeral service his body lay in state in full Dracula costume including cape. Dr Richard Marlowe is intent on bringing his late wife Evelyn back from the dead using voodoo magic. Marlowe kidnaps young ladies in the hope that by using the essences of these young women in voodoo ceremonies, he will be able to revive his wife. But the voodoo doctor may find his plan jeopardised by the derring-do of intrepid screenwriter Ralph Dawson.

THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN, Robert Wise, director/Arrow Blu-ray  Presented here in a quite stunning Blu-ray transfer by the always reliable Arrow, The Andromeda Strain has never looked better — and those with long memories who may have seen it in the cinema in 1971 will be pleased to hear that the film is quite as accomplished as the critics of the day suggested: intelligent, adult science-fiction a million miles away from the juvenilia with which the genre is often categorised. Much as Robert Wise reminded us of his protean expertise in different fields (e.g. the supernatural in his film of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting, he clearly had the measure of the science-fiction drama. Based on Michael Crichton’s 1969 novel, the film stars Arthur Hill, James Olson and the scene-stealing Kate Reid as a team of scientists confronting a lethal organism. The special effects are courtesy of 2001’s  Douglas Trumbull.

BLOODY TERROR: 1976-1987, Norman J Warren, director/Powerhouse Indicator  In the glory days of British horror movies of the 70s The Shocking Cinema of Norman J Warren, Norman J. Warren’s maverick talent was an unsung asset of the field, and only the afterlife of such grisly gems as Satan’s Slave, Terror and Prey (all in this collectable edition) has given him the reputation he deserves as one of the most hardworking and energetic directors this country has produced, however haphazard he frequently is. Inseminoid remains (despite protestations to the contrary) a by-rote Alien clone, but the other films in this set make it tempting. Prey is an intriguing riff on another popular film — the source here is DH Lawrence’s The Fox: we have the warring lesbian couple, their union disrupted by predatory mail interloper, and Warren even has a fox in his Prey scenario. The interloper here, however, is an alien – who, as Norman J Warren himself rightly points out, looks more like a werewolf than a visitor from another planet. (Solid performances here, and if the budget doesn’t run to a single special effect shot of the alien’s interstellar craft, there is still a nicely-tuned sense of strangeness. The most accomplished film here is Terror, which, as Warren admits, is inspired by the all-out assault on the senses that was Dario Argento’s Suspiria. The actor James Aubrey, fresh off TVs Bouquet of Barbed Wire, told me how much he enjoyed making the film and how everyone felt that Warren was a real talent working in the outer reaches of the industry. Certainly, Terror is the most accomplished film in this set.

A BLONDE IN LOVE, Miloš Forman, director/Second Run Blu-ray  Lovers of arthouse cinema have long been aware that alongside the challenging masterpieces that demand considerable attention on the part of the viewer (such as Antonioni’s L’Avventura), there are films which — while accruing heavyweight reputations — are still enjoyable in an uncomplicated fashion, such as this funny and quirky Czech comedy-drama from a director who was to consolidate his wider international reputation with such films as Amadeus. A Blonde in Love functions as both a charming romance between an unlikely couple and as a swingeing attack on life in a totalitarian regime — it is the latter, of course, which gives the film its considerable weight beyond its sweetly entertaining surface. Utilising the new 4K restoration that premiered at 2019 Cannes Film Festival, Second Run’s Blu-ray world premiere release of Miloš Forman’s film is a triumph.

THE HOLE IN THE GROUND, Lee Cronin, director/Vertigo  A synthesis of The Witch and Hereditary. (with elements of Pet Sematary and Invasion of the Body Snatchers), the debut feature from writer-director Lee Cronin is a nicely tuned essay in the building of tension. The cast includes Seána Kerslake as a single mother driven to her wits end, and James Quinn Markey as her son, who might not be what he seems after his disappearance in the forest.

A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, Elia Kazan, director/Eureka Entertainment Blu-Ray  There are two ways of looking at reputation of the director Elia Kazan. His legacy on film is untouchable, with such masterpieces as A Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront. His reputation as a man, however, is more controversial given that he was one of the friendly witnesses for the career-destroying House UnAmerican Activities committee and he never really apologised for naming names. But such things are less important than what we can see on film as this early near-classic firmly demonstrates. From a 2K restoration as a part of The Masters of Cinema Series Director Kazan’s first film is a touching Hollywood dramas from the 1940s, based on the now-forgotten Betty Smith’s novel – a bestseller in the U.S. Set in the Brooklyn tenements of 1912, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the Nolans, an Irish-American family living in straitened circumstances, exacerbated by the charming father’s alcoholism.

THE MERMAID: LAKE OF THE DEAD/4 Digital Media  Some imagination is in evidence in this unsettling piece, taking a familiar theme that begins with a mermaid falling in love with a human, but then finds something fresh and intriguing in the scenario. There are few similarities with Hans Christian Andersen’s classic tale and this is fairy tale of a much darker hue. Visuals here are very impressive.

COME BACK TO THE 5 & DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN, Robert Altman, director/Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray  The standing of the director Robert Altman could not be higher, but one of his films which is less seen that should be is this unusual drama with a remarkable female cast, including Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black and Kathy Bates. Interestingly, in such stellar company it is Karen Black who walks away with the acting Honours. For the first time in the UK, this issue appears in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition as part of The Masters of Cinema Series. Altman here moved back to economical, independent filmmaking, with this character-led play by Ed Graczyk (who adapted it for the screen) centred on the “Disciples of James Dean,” an all-women fan club devoted to the actor.

A CASE FOR A ROOKIE HANGMAN (PŘÍPAD PRO ZAČÍNAJÍCÍHO KATA), Pavel Juráček, director/Second Run Blu-ray  Films made under the shadow of authoritarian regimes are obliged to tread very likely lightly with the fear of censorship (and worse). This bizarre and surreal adaptation of classic English texts takes Gulliver’s travels (along with a healthy dose of Lewis Carroll) and transposes to a threatening Czech landscape. Sometimes of course, the censors are not bright enough to spot the transgressive (take, for instance the conversation about horseracing in Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep – the moral guardians didn’t realise that what was really being talked about was sexual intercourse), but that’s not the case with Pavel Juráček’s film which upset the Czech authorities and ensured its release was severely restricted. While not using special effects, Juráček’s achieves a truly bizarre otherworldly realm in which persecution and repression are ever present. Those with even the slightest interest in the Czech new wave will need to investigate this. Presented from a new 4K restoration.

LAST HURRAH FOR CHIVALRY & HAND OF DEATH: John Woo, director/Eureka Entertainment Blu-ray  A lively and intriguing duo of early films from the celebrated director John Woo, presented for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK in a 2-disc set drawn from new 2K restorations. Released as part of the Eureka Classics range, the first 2000 copies will feature a Limited Edition Collector’s booklet. Last Hurrah for Chivalry features Pai Wei and Damian Lau, while Hand of Death, showcases early performances from Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung (both responsible for the film’s stunts).