In the nightmarish last days of the Third Reich, a psychotic Nazi scientist (Robert Vaughn) escapes to the impenetrable jungles of the Amazon. Years later, a mysterious incurable disease breaks out among the natives and adventurer John Hamilton (Michael Dudikoff) is hired to lead investigators on a search for the cause. Braving bloodthirsty rives pirates, hostile native tribes and headhunting cannibals, Hamilton, guides a group of explorers up the deadly Rio del Morte to the fabulous lost Inca city.
From master of horror Dario Argento (Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) comes Phenomena one of his most eccentric and unique thrillers, featuring telepathic insects, maggots galore, and even a razorwielding chimp! Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly, Labyrinth), daughter of a worldrenowned movie star, arrives in the socalled Swiss Transylvania to attend an exclusive girls' school. However, a vicious killer is targeting the pupils, and sleepwalker Jennifer finds herself in the assassin's headlights when her nocturnal wanderings cause her to witness the death of a fellow pupil. Aided by paraplegic entomologist John McGregor (Donald Pleasence, Halloween) and her own uncanny ability to communicate telepathically with insects, Jennifer sets out to track down the killer before she herself becomes the latest victim Released in 1985, towards the end of Argento's decadelong golden age as a director, Phenomena costars Dalila Di Lazarro (The Pyjama Girl Case), Patrick Bauchau (Clear and Present Danger) and Daria Nicolodi (Tenebrae), and features lush cinematography by Romano Albani (Inferno) and a pounding prog rock score by Goblin (Deep Red, Suspiria). Presenting all three versions of the film including the radically different Creepers cut released in the US in a sumptuous new 4K restoration, this is the definitive release of Argento's creepy classic. Limited Edition Contents: New 4K restoration of the original 116minute Italian version, the 110minute international English version and the 83minute US Creepers version from the original camera negative by Arrow films 4K (2160p) UHD Bluray⢠presentations of all three versions in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring two original pieces of poster artwork Illustrated collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by Mikel J. Koven, Rachael Nisbet and Leonard Jacobs Foldout doublesided poster featuring two original pieces of artwork Six doublesided, postcardsized lobby card reproduction artcards Disc One - Italian Version: Lossless Italian DTSHD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo soundtracks, derived from the original 4channel Dolby Stereo elements Lossless hybrid English/Italian DTSHD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack* English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the hybrid soundtrack Audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of Murder by Design: The Unsane Cinema of Dario Argento Of Flies and Maggots, a featurelength 2017 documentary produced for Arrow Films, including interviews with cowriter/producer/director Dario Argento, actors Fiore Argento, Davide Marotta, Daria Nicolodi and Fiorenza Tessari, cowriter Franco Ferrini, cinematographer Romano Albani, production manager Angelo Iacono, special optical effects artist Luigi Cozzi, special makeup effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, makeup artist Pier Antonio Mecacci, underwater camera operator Gianlorenzo Battaglia, and composers Claudio Simonetti and Simon Boswell Original Italian and international theatrical trailers Jennifer music video, directed by Dario Argento Japanese pressbook gallery Disc Two: Lossless English DTSHD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo soundtracks on the international version, derived from the original 4channel Dolby Stereo elements Lossless English PCM soundtracks on Creepers, mastered from the original 3 track DME magnetic mix and presented in two variants: 1.0 mono and an alternate 2.0 mix with stereo music. Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Audio commentary on the international version by Argento scholar and author Derek Botelho and film historian, journalist and radio/television commentator David Del Valle The Three Sarcophagi, a visual essay by Arrow producer Michael Mackenzie comparing the different cuts of Phenomena Rare alternate 2.0 stereo mix on the international version, featuring different sound effects and music cues US theatrical trailer US radio spots * The 116minute Italian cut features approximately six minutes of footage for which English audio does not exist. In these instances, the hybrid track reverts to Italian audio with English subtitles
From master of horror Dario Argento (Suspiria, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) comes Phenomena one of his most eccentric and unique thrillers, featuring telepathic insects, maggots galore, and even a razor-wielding chimp! Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly, Labyrinth), daughter of a world-renowned movie star, arrives in the so-called Swiss Transylvania to attend an exclusive girls' school. However, a vicious killer is targeting the pupils, and sleepwalker Jennifer finds herself in the assassin's headlights when her nocturnal wanderings cause her to witness the death of a fellow pupil. Aided by paraplegic entomologist John McGregor (Donald Pleasence, Halloween) and her own uncanny ability to communicate telepathically with insects, Jennifer sets out to track down the killer before she herself becomes the latest victim Released in 1985, towards the end of Argento's decade-long golden age as a director, Phenomena co-stars Dalila Di Lazarro (Andy Warhol's Frankenstein), Patrick Bauchau (Clear and Present Danger) and Daria Nicolodi (Tenebrae), and features lush cinematography by Romano Albani (Inferno) and a pounding prog rock score by Goblin (Deep Red, Suspiria). Presented here in a sumptuous new 4K restoration of the film and with a newly created hybrid English/Italian audio track, this is the definitive release of Argento's creepy classic. SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS: ¢ Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative ¢ High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the full-length 116-minute Italian cut of the film ¢ New 5.1 surround mix of the Italian soundtrack in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio, derived from the original 4-channel Dolby Stereo elements ¢ New hybrid English/Italian soundtrack in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM 2.0 stereo* ¢ Italian soundtrack in lossless PCM 2.0 stereo ¢ English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack ¢ Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack ¢ New audio commentary by Troy Howarth, author of So Deadly, So Perverse: 50 Years of Italian Giallo Films ¢ Of Flies and Maggots, a new feature-length documentary including interviews with co-writer/producer/director Dario Argento, actors Fiore Argento, Davide Marotta, Daria Nicolodi and Fiorenza Tessari, co-writer Franco Ferrini, cinematographer Romano Albani, production manager Angelo Jacono, special optical effects artist Luigi Cozzi, special makeup effects artist Sergio Stivaletti, makeup artist Pier Antonio Mecacci, underwater camera operator Gianlorenzo Battaglia, and composers Claudio Simonetti and Simon Boswell ¢ Original Italian and English theatrical trailers ¢ Jennifer music video, directed by Dario Argento ¢ Rare Japanese vintage pressbook ¢ Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp * The 116-minute Italian cut features approximately six minutes of footage for which English audio does not exist. In these instances, the hybrid track reverts to Italian audio with English subtitles.
True virtue triumphs over superficiality in this distinguished BBC production of Jane Austen's celebrated novel Mansfield Park. Set in 18th century England Jane Austen's tale of virtue and vice tells of young impoverished Fanny Price who arrives at the elegant country estate of her uncle Sir Thomas Bertam. Snubbed by everyone except her cousin Edmund Fanny begins her long struggle for acceptance by her shallow relatives who believe wealth automatically means quality. When
Originally broadcast in 1981 this five-part story has Turpin and his highway companion Swiftnick encountering treachery and danger at every turn as they try to help an American lady Jane Harding who is on a mission to depose the corrupt governer of Maryland. Written by the legendary Richard Carpenter Dick Turpin's Greatest Adventure is a fast-paced action story with strong support from a number of guest stars such as: Patrick MacNee Michael Deeks Susan Hampshire Oli
Set against the Notting Hill race riots of the late 1950's The Wind Of Change is a gripping kitchen-sink drama focusing on the relationship between a father (Donald Pleasence) a world-weary yet liberal man who spends all his spare time looking after his rabbits and his rebellious unemployed son Frank (Johnny Briggs). Frank is bigoted racist who believes the black immigrants are taking all the British jobs though he doesn't seem too concerned in trying to get one himself. When Frank and his gang of teddy boys beat up a black man who later dies of his injuries he must face the consequence of his actions...
The effects are low-tech and no longer special, but Escape to Witch Mountain still has plenty of Disney live-action charm. It's rather quaint by later standards, coming just two years before Star Wars upped the ante on movie magic, but the story's got timeless appeal as a precursor to Harry Potter's more lavish brand of kid-wizardry. Here you've got Tony (Ike Eisenmann) and sister Tia (Kim Richards), orphans unaware of their mysterious past, who are taken in by a nefarious liar (Ray Milland) seeking to exploit their supernatural powers. Populated by '70s stalwarts like Donald Pleasance and Eddie Albert (the latter playing the kids' grown-up accomplice, unwittingly rescuing them from Milland), this lightweight Disney fare is perfect for kids under 10, with such enticements as a clever cat mascot named Winky (because he winks a lot), Tony's magical harmonica... and a Winnebago that flies! With a sci-fi climax, this popular hocus-pocus spawned a 1978 sequel (Return from Witch Mountain) that proved similarly popular with kids. --Jeff Shannon
Chalk this one up as something that seemed like a good idea at the time. Frank Langella had just taken Broadway by storm in a revival of the play based on Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel. He was tall, elegant, and almost painfully romantic--all qualities that failed to translate to this garish, tarted-up film version. The story remains the same, if told in greater length than in Bela Lugosi's version. The film even offered Laurence Olivier as vampire-hunter Van Helsing (in one of several roles he played during the period that required a middle-European accent) and a young Kate Nelligan as the woman whose love (and blood) Dracula most wants. But director John Badham, working from W.D. Richter's clunky script, makes a hash of most of it, relying on special effects to do the heavy lifting. --Marshall Fine
Italian horror maestro Dario Argento made his name by turning homicide into modern art with a cinematic flourish, but with Phenomena he takes his stylish mayhem in new directions. The film opens with the dreamy grace of a fairy tale: a young girl wandering the green meadows of Switzerland and discovering a gingerbread house, wherein lives a monster more modern than mythic, a psychopathic maniac who plunges the picture into a lush nightmare. Jennifer (Jennifer Connelly in her first starring role), a gifted young girl at a Swiss school, has a psychic link to the insect world and develops a connection with the killer through midnight sleepwalks. With the help of a lonely, wheelchair-bound entomologist (genre stalwart Donald Pleasence, who inflects his sonorous tenor with a gentle Scottish burr) she turns telekinetic detective, which only draws her closer to the killer's lair. The densely plotted story becomes muddled at times (this is the busiest film in Argento's oeuvre) but the lyrical cinematography and gorgeous nocturnal imagery--dreamy sleepwalks, nightmarish murders, hideous horrors that emerge in the dark of night--take on a poetic elegance not seen in his previous work, providing the tale with a kind of dream logic. This is a slasher film reborn as an exquisitely grim fantasy: Jennifer in Argentoland. --Sean Axmaker
It was a cold Halloween night in 1963 when six year old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister. Fifteen years later he escapes from prison and returns home...
Starting around Halloween 4, that masked nut Michael Myers stopped chasing his sister (played by Jamie Lee Curtis in the first and second films, as well as Halloween H20) and went after his niece. Now he's chasing her around again in part 5, but it's a lot of other people who die in the process. Donald Pleasence continues his mad-doctor bit from the earlier movies, Danielle Harris is the unfortunate relation, and Donald L. Shanks plays the monster. The film is an improvement on parts 2 and 4 (part 3 having nothing to do with Michael Myers), but it still amounts to routine slaughter with none of John Carpenter's stylistic brilliance from the original movie. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
Mixing the visual style and shocking violence of the classic Italian Giallo with the slick sensuality of 1980s erotic thrillers, Carlo Vanzina's controversial box office hit Nothing Underneath dives into the dark underbelly of Milan's fashion world as American forest ranger Bob Crane inspired by a psychic vision heads to Italy in search of his twin sister, a top model who has mysteriously vanished.He soon finds himself drawn into a sophisticated and sinister world of sex, murder, drugs and intrigue where no one is what they seem and a scissor-wielding assassin stalks the catwalk.Product FeaturesBrand new uncensored 4K transfer from the original negativesItalian and English Stereo Audio OptionsOptional English SubtitlesAudio Commentary with Justin Kerswell of The Hysteria ContinuesAudio Commentary with film historian and critic Rachael NisbetMurders a la Mode an interview with screenwriter Enrico VanzinaMurder He Wrote an interview with screenwriter Franco FerriniHigh Fashion Music an interview with composer Pino DonaggioModels, Murders and Italy an interview with actor Tom SchanleyEnglish theatrical trailersItalian theatrical trailerEnglish insertsItalian opening and end credits
This 1976 adventure story set in World War II concerns a Nazi plot to kidnap Churchill from his retreat--or murder him if need be. The Eagle Has Landed has a large, great cast and a director, John Sturges, who's been down this road of ensemble action before (The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape) make this project exciting if not as memorable as Sturges's more famous works. The weak ending doesn't help. -- Tom Keogh
The film boasts the best of the Bond title songs (this one sung on a dreamy track by Nancy Sinatra), but the movie itself is one of the weaker ones of the Sean Connery phase of the 007 franchise. The story concerns an effort by the evil organisation SPECTRE to start a world war, but the not-so-super villain behind the plot is the awfully civilised Donald Pleasence. The thin script is by Roald Dahl (shouldn't we have expected a better Bond nemesis from the creator of mad genius Willy Wonka?), and direction is by British veteran Lewis Gilbert (Alfie). But the movie can't hold a candle to Dr. No, From Russia with Love, or Goldfinger. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.comOn the DVD: This was another troubled production according to the insightful "making of" documentary: director and producers luckily avoided boarding a plane out of Tokyo that crashed and killed everyone on board; the Japanese actresses couldn't speak English and one threatened suicide if she was dropped from the part; and the aerial cameraman filming the helicopter fight had his leg sliced off by a rotor blade. Maurice Binder's evocative main title designs are the subject of the second documentary, "Silhouettes", in which his colleagues voiceboth their admiration of his art and frustration at his chaotic working practices. The commentary is another edited selection of interviews with principal cast and crew. An animated storyboard sequence, trailers, radio spots and a handsome booklet add up to another winning entry in this series. --Mark Walker
This stylish production of the classic gothic horror tale stars Frank Langella repeating his electrifying award-winning stage performance as the bloodthirsty Count with Laurence Olivier as the devout vampire hunter Van Helsing Dracula's nemesis.
""I wished to tell the truth for truth always conveys its own morality."" This is the fantastic BBC adaptation of Anne Bronte's novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall When Helen Graham becomes the new tenant of the dark decaying Wildfell Halt her independent spirit and radical views set her apart from the staid rural community around her. Gilbert Markham a young farmer finds himself powerfully drawn to her and a series of dramatic events brings them closer toge
The third in a triptych of Italian jungle combat adventures that includes Commando Leopard and Code Name: Wild Geese from Euro-trash movie kingpin Antonio Margheriti - The Commander features Lewis Collins (Who Dares Wins) doing what he does best, leading a group of fearless mercenaries into the green hell of a South Asian jungle in order to protect a data disc full of secrets. On hand to lend a touch of class to proceedings are Lee Van Cleef and Donald Pleasence in an 80s Spaghetti War classic where loud explosions and heavy duty combat combine with secret agent double crossing and murderous corruption. Can Collins discover who is out to screw him and his hired band of killers as they struggle to survive in this twisting, turning video store staple, reclaimed by ArrowDrome for a new generation of B-movie lovers? Special Features: Collector's Booklet by David Hayles
The all time classic tale of a massive escape from a World War Two German Prisoner of War camp released as a two disc DVD set with a host of extra features.
Ulli Lommel co-writes and directs this '80s horror starring Suzanna Love and Donald Pleasence. 300 years after three local women, who were accused of witchcraft and brutally murdered by the local townsfolk, cursed the New England town of Devonsville their modern-day counterparts arrive in the colonial town. The arrival of three socially liberated women causes panic in the town's male-dominated hierarchy, who fear the presence of the women heralds the fulfilment of the curse. One of the women, schoolteacher Jenny Scanlon (Love), seeks help from psychiatrist Dr. Warley (Pleasence) when she begins experiencing horrific dreams, the precursor of events about to unfold that are rooted in her past life.
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