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When it comes to releasing unique and collectible Blu-ray box sets (such as their Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection), Severin Films has done an amazing job preserving horror history, and this summer they'll continue to do so with The Complete Lenzi Baker Giallo Collection, featuring Umberto Lenzi's collaborations with Carroll Baker:

"On June 30th, Severin Films is bringing together the complete collaborative works of two cult film legends with The Complete Lenzi Baker Giallo Collection, which includes superlative editions of Orgasmo, So Sweet… So Perverse, A Quiet Place To Kill, and Knife Of Ice.

Italian writer/director Umberto Lenzi helmed popular peplums, created extreme poliziotteschi, and invented the Italian cannibal phenomenon. Hollywood actress Carroll Baker was the Golden Globe® winning/Academy Award® nominated star of Baby Doll, Giant and The Carpetbaggers. Together in the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, they made four landmark films that changed the erotic thriller and giallo genres forever.

A title is always a good start to piquing my interest; the more bold, clever, or assertive the better. So let’s take a look see at Murder Mansion (1972), an engaging Italian/Spanish co-production with a catchy moniker and even better content to back it up.

Released it Italy in August and Spain in September, with a U.S. release November of ’73, Murder Mansion bounced around under various titles for different regions: Maniac Mansion, Exorcism Mansion, The Scream, Quando Marta urlò dalla tomba, and This House is Too Crowded, Let’s Kill Some People all containing the same neo-Gothic graveyard and fog stomper with a better than usual cast and a plot that just won’t quit. Murder is sly and fun.

Oh boy, where do I even start? We open by meeting a disparate group of folk on an Italian highway: a motorcyclist, Fred (Andre Resino – The Werewolf Versus...

Guest reviewer Lee Broughton returns with more vintage Spaghetti Westerns. Prolific Italo western star Anthony Steffen shoots first in Alberto Cardone’s gothic vengeance drama Blood at Sundown, and plays the revenge game straight up in Mario Caiano’s A Coffin for the Sheriff. The double bill disc also features appearances by genre stalwarts Gianni Garko, Erika Blanc and Eduardo Fajardo.

A Coffin for the Sheriff & Blood at Sundown

DVD

Wild East Productions

Color / Street Date January 8, 2014 / 19.95

Starring: Anthony Steffen.

Directed by Alberto Cardone & Mario Caiano

Reviewed by Lee Broughton

Blood at Sundown

1966 / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / 1000 dollari sul nero /

Starring: Anthony Steffen, Gianni Garko, Erika Blanc, Carlo D’Angelo, Sieghardt Rupp, Angelica Ott, Roberto Miali, Daniela Igliozzi, Gianni Solaro, Franco Fantasia, Carla Calo.

Cinematography: Gino Santini

Film Editor: Romeo Ciatti

Art Director: Amadeo Mellone

Original Music: Michele Lacerenza

Written by Ernesto Gastaldi, Vittorio Salerno

Produced by Marlon Sirko

Directed by...

“If you’re a coffin maker… you sure did pick a good town to settle.”

The “D” is silent; the movie is not! Django (1966) screens Wednesday, May 2nd at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar (7260 Southwest Ave.- at Manchester – Maplewood, Mo 63143) as part of Webster University’s Award-Winning Strange BrewFilm Series.

You never know what’s brewing at Webster University’s Strange Brew cult film series. It’s always the first Wednesday evening of every month, and they always come up with some cult classic to show while enjoying some good food and great suds. The fun happens at Schlafly Bottleworks Restaurant and Bar in Maplewood.

Django (1966), Sergio Corbucci’s answer to Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy, helped entwine the spaghetti Western further into the DNA of world cinema. Starring as the title traveler is Franco Nero, the scruffy Civil War vet who pulls a coffin behind him as he drifts from town to town.

Guest reviewer Lee Broughton is back with an in-depth look at Sergio Corbucci’s grand ‘Zapata’ Spaghetti Western. Set in post-1900 Mexico, Tony Musante’s rebellious peon wants to be a hero of the revolution but he primarily robs the rich in order to pay the extortionate wages that are demanded by Franco Nero’s interloping Polish mercenary-cum-military advisor. The resultant political allegory is played out on an almost epic scale and is suitably enlivened by the presence of a villainous Jack Palance, a plethora of large scale action scenes, an imaginatively used period car and biplane and a rousing soundtrack score by Ennio Morricone and Bruno Nicolai.

The Mercenary (Il mercenario)

Region B Blu-ray

88 Films The Italian Collection

1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 106 min. / A Professional Gun, Il mercenario / Street Date, 8 Jan 2018 / £15.99

Starring: Franco Nero, Tony Musante, Jack Palance, Giovanna Ralli, Franco Giacobini, Eduardo Fajardo, Franco Ressel, Raf Baldassarre, Tito Garcia.

Stars: Hugo Stiglitz, Laura Trotter, Maria Rosaria Omaggio, Francisco Rabal, Sonia Viviani, Eduardo Fajardo, Stefania D’Amario, Mel Ferrer, Sara Franchetti, Manuel Zarzo | Written by Antonio Cesare Corti, Luis María Delgado | Directed by Umberto Lenzi

Zombies don’t run! …or something like that right? I never actually stick to that; I’m not one of the people who think that Romero wrote the rules about zombies. Nightmare City, which is being released by Arrow Video, is a batshit crazy zombie movie which may be the first instance of running zombies, all the way back in 1980, though I’m probably wrong about that…

When an airplane arrives at an airport full of bloodsucking zombies, the unstoppable force soon starts to invade the city. Dean (Hugo Stiglitz), a reporter who witnesses the original attack fights to find his wife Anna (Laura Trotter) at the hospital before the horde completely take over the city.

Lisa And The Devil

Stars: Elke Sommer, Telly Savalas, Sylva Koscina, Alessio Orano, Gabriele Tinti, Kathy Leone, Eduardo Fajardo, Franz von Treuberg, Espartaco Santoni, Alida Valli | Written and Directed by Mario Bava

When it comes to Italian horror it’s fair to say that Mario Bava is one of the most known names. A visionary director he’s brought us the likes of Black Sunday and not only paved the way for the success of Italian horror but also brought us some truly unique films, one of them being Lisa and the Devil. Now that Arrow Video have brought this classic directors cut to Blu-ray along with the alternative version House of Exorcism we can see what his original vision was and why in my view it’s one of his best pieces of work.

When holidaying in Spain, Lisa is shown a painting said to be of the devil,...

By Chris Wright, MoreHorror.com

“Nightmare City” (1980)

Directed By: Umberto Lenzi

Written By: Piero Mignoli, Tony Corti, Jose Luis Delgado

Starring: Hugo Stiglitz (Dean Miller), Laura Trotter (Dr. Anna Miller), Maria Rosaria (Sheila), Francisco Rabal (Major Warren Holmes), Sonia Viviani (Cindy), Eduardo Fajardo (Dr. Kramer) Mel Ferrer (General Murchison).

I never knew mindless killing could occur with no actual plot but apparently it really can! It is fairly difficult to defend this movie unless the movie watcher really likes incoherent films. This movie was released under numerous titles as well such as “City of the Walking Dead” and its Italian label “Incubo Sulla Cittá Contaminata.” This movie is not very well known and I found out why, the hard way.

The apparent plot is a news reporter named Dean (Hugo Stiglitz) is going to interview a scientist at a European airport about a recent nuclear incident. A random plane lands...

Chicago – The great cult movie studio Blue Underground continues their pattern of excellent Blu-ray releases for unheralded horror gems with the recent releases of the Lucio Fulci zombie film “City of the Living Dead” and one of the most underrated westerns ever made in “Django”. While they don’t have much in common outside of studio and cult status, both are worth a look.

Blu-Ray Rating: 3.0/5.0

“City of the Living Dead”

Even though I admire some of his technique and willingness to do whatever inspired him, I was never a huge Lucio Fulci fan. The man has often been called the Italian Herschell Gordon Lewis and is probably most well-known for “Zombi II” and “The Beyond,” two films from the late-’70s and ’80s that earned Fulci a reputation for extreme gore. A large number of his films have been banned around the world and his “The New York Ripper...