News

Part alien, part human, and all nightmare, Forbidden World will invade 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on March 18 via Scream Factory.

Also known as Mutant, the 1982 sci-fi horror film was one of producer Roger Corman‘s attempts to cash in on the success of Alien.

Allan Holzman directs from as script written by Tim Curnen. Jesse Vint, Dawn Dunlap, June Chadwick, Linden Chiles, and Fox Harris star.

Both the 77-minute theatrical version and the 82-minute director’s cut have been newly restored in 4K from the 35mm original camera negative with Dolby Vision.

Disc 1 – 4K Uhd:

Theatrical Version & Director’s Cut 4K Restoration and Dolby Vision Presentation From the 35mm Original Camera Negative (new) Audio: English DTS-hd Master Audio 2.0 Dual Mono Audio Commentary on Director’s Cut with Director/Editor Allan Holzman

Disc 2 – Blu-ray:

Theatrical Version & Director’s Cut 4K Restoration and Dolby Vision Presentation From the 35mm Original Camera Negative...

Newly remastered in 4K! Bruce Dern’s (literally) tree-hugging forest ranger Freeman Lowell commits space piracy to save the trees, dude, and becomes lost in space with only Huey, Dewey and Louie for companionship. The only soul back on Earth who seems to care is Joan Baez. Douglas Trumbull’s technically-accomplished first feature film does 2001 on a tiny budget, and creates something original, if a bit mushy — the bittersweet ending depresses more than it uplifts.

Silent Running

4K Ultra HD

Arrow Video

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 90 min. / Street Date December 13, 2022 / Available from / 49.95

Starring: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint, Mark Persons, Steven Brown, Cheryl Sparks, Larry Whisenhunt.

Cinematography: Charles F. Wheeler

Film Editor: Aaron Stell

Original Music: Peter Schickiele

Special Photographic Effects: John Dykstra, Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich

Written by Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Steven Bochco

Produced by Michael Gruskoff, Marty Hornstein

Directed by Douglas Trumbull

Arrow has been on a two-year roll,...

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“Conservation In Space”

By Raymond Benson

When Silent Running was released in 1972 as a somewhat “experimental” venture from Universal Pictures, a studio that had decided to give a handful of new filmmakers a million dollars each to make whatever they wanted, it flew under the radar of most folks who weren’t into science fiction. After all, it was a tough challenge to come up with anything to compete with 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), which was still playing on second and third runs around the world. Silent Running did okay at the box office, but it wasn’t a runaway hit.

Nevertheless, Running, which was directed by one of 2001’s visual effects supervisors, Douglas Trumbull (it was his debut as a director), became a cult movie that has played revival houses and did good business on home video years later in multiple formats.

Bruce Dern is on a life-saving mission! After killing John Wayne in The Cowboys but before trying to massacre the Super Bowl in Black Sunday, his forest ranger Freeman Lowell committed space piracy to save the trees, man! The only one back on Earth who seems to care is Joan Baez. Douglas Trumbull’s technically-accomplished first feature film does 2001 on a tiny budget, and creates something original, if a bit mushy. The screenplay by Derek Washburn, Michael Cimino and Steven Bochco reaches a wistful ending — but is it uplifting or depressing?

Silent Running

Blu-ray

Arrow Video

1972 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Street Date November 17, 2020 / 39.99

Starring: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint, Mark Persons, Steven Brown, Cheryl Sparks, Larry Whisenhunt.

Cinematography: Charles F. Wheeler

Film Editor: Aaron Stell

Original Music: Peter Schickiele

Special Photographic Effects: John Dykstra, Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich

Written by Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Steven Bochco

Produced by Michael Gruskoff,...

While it may not be a Friday, Tuesday the 13th does have a bit of a nice ring to it, too, which makes it a perfect day to add some great genre Blu-rays and DVDs to your home entertainment collections. Scream Factory is doing the (dark) lord’s work yet again this week with their Collector’s Edition of Vice Squad (which I cannot wait to check out) as well as their stunning Steelbooks for both Galaxy of Terror and Forbidden World.

For those of you who enjoy “talkies” (a phrase we coined in our house for our favorite dialogue-heavy films), Radioland Murders arrives on Blu for the first time ever this week, and the third season of Riverdale hits both formats on Tuesday as well.

Other notable releases for August 13th include Avengers: Endgame, The Velocipastor (ahead of its Blu-ray release on September 17th), A Dark Place, Devil Music,...

Galaxy of Terror and Forbidden World are getting Scream Factory's fantastic steelbook treatment this August. Each release is limited to 5,000 units being produced total. When they're gone, they're gone.

In Galaxy of Terror, the mind's innermost fears become reality for the crew members of the Quest when they land on a barren planet to rescue survivors from the starship Remus. The crew investigates a giant pyramid on the planet, hoping to find the missing crew members ... only to find something deadly waiting for them instead. Each crew member must come face to face with their darkest fears or perish. The crew of the Quest includes Edward Albert (The House Where Evil Dwells), Erin Moran (Happy Days), Ray Walston (Popcorn), Robert Englund (A Nightmare On Elm Street series), Zalman King (Blue Sunshine) and Sid Haig (The Devil's Rejects).

The film had its share of new, emerging talents behind the camera as well,...

As much as I dig his takes and tales of Poe from the ‘60s, my favorite era of Roger Corman is the New World years: you know, pulpy pictures like Death Race 2000 (1975) and Humanoids from the Deep (1980). At the turn of the ‘80s he decided to cash in on the Star Wars and Alien craze with Battle Beyond the Stars (’80) and Galaxy of Terror (’81). His follow up to that last one, Forbidden World (1982), carries on the low-minded tradition of boobs and bloodshed in glorious, goofy fashion.

Made for around a million dollars and released in early May, Forbidden World (Aka Mutant), received mostly poor notices as it made the rounds of the drive-in circuit, but became a staple on home video for those looking for cheap thrills as only Corman could provide; which is to say, with confidence, competence, and a twisted sensibility.

Our film opens in outer space...

Arthur Penn’s under-appreciated epic has everything a big-scale western could want — spectacle, interesting characters, good history and a sense of humor. Dustin Hoffman gets to play at least five characters in one as an ancient pioneer relating his career exploits — which are either outrageous tall tales or a concise history of the taking of The West.

Little Big Man

Region B Blu-ray

Koch Media

1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 139 147 min. / Available from Amazon.de / Street Date September 14, 2017 / Eur 17.99

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George, Martin Balsam, Richard Mulligan, Jeff Corey, Aimée Eccles, Kelly Jean Peters, Carole Androsky, Ruben Moreno, William Hickey, Jesse Vint, Alan Oppenheimer, Thayer David.

Cinematography: Harry Stradling Jr.

Production Designer: Dean Tavoularis

Art Direction: Angelo P. Graham

Special Makeup: Dick Smith

Special Effects: Logan Frazee

Film Editors: Dede Allen, Richard Marks

Original Music: John Hammond

Written by Calder Willingham from the novel by Thomas Berger

Produced...

By Ernie Magnotta

There’s nothing I like better than getting hold of a movie that I’ve been searching over three decades for and adding it to my collection. At my age, there aren’t many vintage films left that I don’t own in one format or another, so when I heard that the 1976 cult classic Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw was getting a Blu-ray release, I was quite enthused. This movie has somehow always managed to elude me. It never seemed to play on any of my cable stations in the early 80s, we never had a copy of it at the video store I worked at in the mid-80s and I was still never able to find a copy of it anywhere throughout the 90s. To be honest, by the time the 21st century hit, I completely forgotten about this movie, so I was pretty...

Join us for some old-school 16mm Movie Madness! – It’s our monthly 16Mm Double Feature Night at The Way Out Club (2525 Jefferson Avenue in St. Louis)! Join Tom Stockman and Roger from “Roger’s Reels’ for a double feature of two complete films projected on 16mm film. The show is Tuesday February 7th and starts at 8pm. Admission is Free though we will be setting out a jar to take donations for the National Children’s Cancer Society.

First up is Trading Places

Trading Place is a beloved fish out of water comedy from 1983. The filthy rich Duke brothers (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) conduct a cruel experiment on two completely opposite (and completely oblivious) young men to prove that they could quite easily and successfully trade places.

Dan Aykroyd plays business executive Lewis Winthorpe III, a wealthy snob who works for the callous Duke brothers, and Eddie Murphy is Billy Ray Valentine,...

A distress signal from deep space. A blue-collar crew of astronauts discover a derelict space craft. A star beast of unknown origin chases them through dark pipe-lined corridors until there's only a few (if one) left. After the blockbuster success of Ridley Scott's sci-fi tinged haunted house movie "Alien" busted some blocks in 1979, it was only a matter of time before the low-budget copycats followed suit.

Not only were many of these knockoff movies kinda cool, but they turned out to be a proving ground of ideas and talent for future entries in the "Alien" franchise, including "Aliens," "Alien 3" and "Prometheus" … for realsimo. The first "Alien" was in itself a shameless "homage" to classic B-movies "Planet of the Vampires" and "It! The Terror from Beyond Space," so it's only fair that flicks like this week's Vin Diesel monster mash "Riddick" should take a page or seven from its playbook.

Stars: Jesse Vint, Dawn Dunlap, June Chadwick, Linden Chiles, Fox Harris, Raymond Oliver, Scott Paulin, Michael Bowen, Don Olivera | Written by Tim Curnen, Jim Wynorski | Directed by Allan Holzman | Produced by Roger Corman

Set on a far off desert planet in a distant future, Forbidden World is a gory tale of a genetic experimentation that goes disastrously out of control. When Federation Commander Mike Colby (Jesse Vint) is sent to investigate reports that a scientific research team’s ambitious quest to create a brand new creature from human cells has gone horribly wrong, he makes a terrifying discovery. Now, there’s a monster on the loose and it’s threatening to wipe out all human life on the planet. Colby embarks on a desperate race against time to destroy the creature but unknown to him some people have a sinister interest in keeping the thing alive and completing the top...

Last time I looked back at Galaxy of Terror and this month I tackle my favorite Corman production: Forbidden World, directed by Allan Holzman and starring Jesse Vint, June Chadwick and the spectacular Dawn Dunlap.

Bounty hunter Mike Colby (Vint) is called to Xarbia to check out Subject 20, which was created in hopes of curing a galaxy wide food crisis. Too bad they didn’t explain that to Subject 20. After an opening segment with Colby awakening from cryosleep to fight off raiders, he receives orders to go to Xarbia where he is met by Doctor Hauser (Linden Chiles) and Geneticist Barbara Glaser (Chadwick). They show him to the Biohazard chamber where he sees the remains of various animals killed when Subject 20 got loose. It has now cocooned itself in the incubator and despite Colbys insistance on destroying it, they convince him to sleep on it. While they go to dinner,...

This morning I figured it was time to bust out with some cult Pa news and since I just caught up with this newly released Roger Corman double-header disc featuring two old school Pa cheese fests and it turned out to be a blast-and-a-half to watch I figured I'd plug it.

What can we say about Deathsport. The worldwide success of Death Race 2000 fueled Corman’s desire to make Deathsport, which also stars David Carradine. It was not a direct sequel and not nearly as well conceived, but it's enough of a thematic follow-up. There's lots of motorcycle mayham and awesome scifi matte paintings that look totally fake, but I personally love that stuff.

Set 1,000 years in the future, following the Great Neutron Wars, Deathsport shows a world that is divided into desert wastes and isolated city-states. Lord Zirpola (David McLean, Kingdom of the Spiders) captures the notorious “Desert...

When deciding on a movie to watch, you are hard pressed to go wrong when picking a film adorned with the title of “Roger Corman Cult Classics” right at the top of the case.

The genuine geniuses over at Shout! Factory have been slowly but surely knocking it out of the ballpark with each subsequent release of this massively expansive set, detailing cult classics like Death Race 2000, and rarely seen gems like Galaxy Of Terror.

The series has produced DVDs that not only have fantastic transfers, but also rather expansive special features, ranging from hour long documentaries, to interviews with Corman himself.

However, Shout! Factory may have finally hit a little bump in the road.

The newest release in the ongoing series, a special double feature featuring the sci-fi films Deathsport and Battle Truck (a.k.a. the best title in film history), aren’t truly bad releases. That said,...

When people think of Roger Corman, they think of two things: camp filled films with copious amounts of blood and skin, and Death Race 2000. However, hoping to help change that is the genius collective known as Shout! Factory.

Releasing a collection of films under the banner of Roger Corman’s Cult Classics, then company has added to their ever growing catalogue of Roger Corman produced projects, which currently includes the aforementioned Death Race 2000 among others, with two new releases of classic projects, Galaxy of Terror, and Forbidden World.

Both are solid winners here, but the true king of the pair here is Galaxy Of Terror.

The film follows the crew of a rescue ship, who while on a mission, come into contact with a group of monsters. However, these aren’t just your run of the mill beasts. These monsters are bread from th very subconscious of each member of the crew,...

Another pair of offerings from In2Film’s Roger Corman Collection and this time we venture forward into the 70’s, to two movies that span the spectrum of Corman’s career as a film producer. From the good: Grand Theft Auto, which marked the directorial debut of Happy Days actor Ron Howard; to the not so good: Deathsport.

Grand Theft Auto

Stars: Ron Howard, Nancy Morgan, Elizabeth Rogers, Barry Cahill, Rance Howard, Paul Linke, Marion Ross | Written and Directed by Ron Howard

This amiable screwball comedy is part road movie, part chase movie and part destruction derby, and concerns one young man’s elopement with his heiress girlfriend from La to Vegas while her father, her fiancé and various others are in hot pursuit hoping to prevent the forthcoming nuptials. However, the car crashes are the real stars of a film that marked the directorial debut of one of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers.

With Piranha and Humanoids from the Deep getting all the love lately in the news, we'd be remiss if we did not mention two other Corman cult classics that are poised to make their special edition double-feature DVD debut from Shout! Factory.

From the Press Release:

Brace yourself for twice the fun, twice the adrenaline rush, and twice the traction as Shout! Factory, in association with New Horizons Picture Corporation, is set to release a dynamic duo of Roger Corman classics on one double-feature collector’s edition DVD. August 3, 2010, will see the release of Deathsport/Battle Truck Collector’s Edition, which marks the first time Deathsport is being presented in a widescreen format as well as the first-ever DVD release of Battle Truck (released theatrically as Warlords of the 21st Century). This double-barreled dose of high-octane excitement decisively marks the latest summer installment from fan favorite Roger Corman’s Cult Classics home entertainment series.

Full details are in for Shout! Factory's Forbidden World and Galaxy of Terror DVD and Blu-Rays. Both arrive in stores on July 20th. Here's the breakdown. Forbidden World 2-disc Special Edition Blu-ray Special Features: Disc 1 on Blu-ray Disc New anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) in high definition transfer from the Inter-Positive films elements of the R-rated theatrical cut Interview with producer Roger Corman Interviews with cast and crew including director Allan Holzman, composer Susan Justin and actor Jesse Vint. A look at the special effects of Forbidden World with John Carl Buechler, Robert Skotak, Tony Randal and R. Christopher Biggs Poster and still Gallery Original theatrical trailer Additional New World trailers Galaxy Of Terror Blu-ray And DVD...

Forbidden World

Stars: Jesse Vint, Dawn Dunlap, June Chadwick, Linden Chiles, Fox Harris, Raymond Oliver, Scott Paulin, Michael Bowen, Don Olivera | Written by Tim Curnen & Jim Wynorski | Directed by Allan Holzman | Produced by Roger Corman

Set on a far off desert planet in a distant future, Forbidden World is a gory tale of a genetic experimentation that goes disastrously out of control. When Federation Commander Mike Colby (Jesse Vint) is sent to investigate reports that a scientific research team’s ambitious quest to create a brand new creature from human cells has gone horribly wrong, he makes a terrifying discovery. Now, there’s a monster on the loose and it’s threatening to wipe out all human life on the planet. Colby embarks on a desperate race against time to destroy the creature but unknown to him some people have a sinister interest in keeping the thing alive and completing...