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Thrillers from the Vault – 8 Classic Films

Blu-ray

Mill Creek Entertainment

1941, 1942, 1943, 1951 / B&w / 1.33: 1 / Blu ray

Starring Boris Karloff, Anne Revere, Peter Lorre, Bela Lugosi

Written by Robert Andrews, Edwin Blum, Randall Faye, Arch Oboler

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, Lew Landers, Arch Oboler

This is part two of a review for Mill Creek Entertainment’s Thrillers from the Vault, 8 Classics Films. Part one can be found here.

The Devil Commands is a hell of a title, and it’s a pretty good movie too. Released in 1941, Edward Dmytryk’s spookfest stars Boris Karloff as Julian Blair, a scientist whose experiments are a family affair—his wife Helen is one of his subjects.

Blair achieves his goal—a machine that records thought processes—but on a night he should be celebrating, his wife is killed in a car crash. Something breaks inside Blair and when he discovers that Helen may continue to live on through his invention,...

CineSavant contributor and advisor Gary Teetzel revisits a film he reviewed for us seventeen years ago. Instead of continuing to play his greatest role for Universal, Bela Lugosi ‘returns’ as a generic vampire in a very Dracula-like tale for Columbia. He’s still the best fiend for the role. The show introduces a novel demise for Lugosi’s creature of the undead, plus a furry-faced werewolf to compete with Universal’s Wolf Man… a werewolf that talks.

The Return of the Vampire

Blu-ray

Scream Factory

1943 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 69 min. / Street Date February 19, 2019 / 27.99

Starring: Bela Lugosi, Frieda Inescort, Nina Foch, Roland Varno, Miles Mander, Matt Willis, Ottola Nesmith, Gilbert Emery.

Cinematography: L.W. O’Connell, John Stumar

Film Editor: Paul Borofsky

Original Music: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco

Written by Griffin Jay, Randall Faye, Kurt Neumann

Produced by Sam White

Directed by Lew Landers

Reviewed by Gary Teetzel

For Bela Lugosi, Hollywood’s...

For February 19th’s home media releases, one of the biggest reasons for genre fans to get excited is that Bad Robot’s Overlord is finally making its way to various formats, so for those of you who may have missed it in theaters, this week is your chance to right that wrong (this writer loved it!). As far as cult titles go, Scream Factory has resurrected The Return of the Vampire in HD, Severin Films is showing Skinner some much-deserved love, and Arrow Videos has Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Color Me Blood Red on tap.

Universal is re-releasing a ton of titles on Tuesday, including Cry-Baby, Dracula (1979), Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Silent Hill: Revelation,and The Watcher, and Nightmare Vacation is getting a special release this week as well.

Color Me Blood Red

URFor the third and final instalment in his infamous 'Blood Trilogy', Color Me Blood Red, splatter...

New NBC comedies Bad Judge and A to Z, along with Fox’s Broadchurch adaptation Gracepoint, all got off to a slow start on Thursday night, but there was good news for at least one network: How to Get Away with Murder stayed strong for ABC in its second week. The Biggest Loser opened the night on NBC low with just 4.7 million viewers and a 1.3 in the 18-49 demographic. New comedies Bad Judge (5.8 million viewers, 1.3) and A to Z (4.8 million, 1.2) were both down 41% and 3 percent, respectively, from the one-hour premiere of The Michael J. Fox Show in the same time slot last year.

One of my fondest memories growing up as a young horrorphile was catching as many scary movies and fright-filled specials as I could during the month of October in order to prepare for Halloween night. With the hundreds of channel options out there for viewers these days, I thought it might be fun to break down where genre fans can catch various movies, specials and even Halloween-themed cartoons over the next 31 days so that you can start planning out your viewings in advance.

Here are some of the thrills and chills coming to your televisions this October. Please keep in mind that full schedules have not been announced everywhere yet, so we’ll be sure to update you guys with any additions to the calendar. All times listed are Et/Pt:

Wednesday, October 1st

2:00pm – The Dead (SyFy)

4:30pm – Dead Season (SyFy)

6:30pm – Halloween II (2009) (SyFy)

9:...

Fangbangers, get ready to celebrate the latest news that True Blood shall return for 12-episode long fifth season. Was there ever any doubt? HBO gave the word yesterday. I know, I know, series creator, Mr. Alan Ball, is just one man and even fearless leaders get tried, but he doesn’t seem to be calling it quits yet. And if the popularity of Boomtron’s own True Blood podcast is any indicator, you aren’t tired of the chills and spills either.

“I am thrilled that True Blood continues to enjoy a phenomenal reception from both subscribers and critics,” said Michael Lombardo, HBO’s president of programming. “Alan Ball and his gifted team have devised the greatest thrill ride on TV.”

True Blood – The Return of the Vampire King

If you do live under a rock, you might want to get into the phenomenon. Based upon the best selling Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris,...

The return of The Vampire Diaries doesn’t come back with quite the bang that the last season ended on. Then again that might be a bit too much to expect considering how intense, shocking, and heart racing last season’s ender was. Still, it’s a solid episode with plenty going on. As expected, things are very different in Mystic Falls now. Most of the vampires are dead thanks to the fire and those behind it, including Elena’s Uncle John and even Bonnie. Damon, Stefan, and oh yeah Katherine are the only ones left. Her re-appearance after over a century has caused quite the stir...

TV is giving us many reasons to look forward to 2010:

The season six premiere of Lost; The likely series finale of Heroes; The return of The Vampire Diaries.

Now, viewers have another reason to set their DVR: on February 8, Fox will air a Cuddy-themed episode of House. Dr. Lisa Cuddy herself (Lisa Edelstein) spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the upcoming installment...

On a day in the life of her character: What’s interesting about it is it lets you know what her world is like when you don’t see her. When House does what he does. You see everything she has to deal with, and you get a better understanding of where she’s coming from.

On the episode, outside the office: There’s some sexual activity, there’s some partial nudity… The writer, Tommy Moran, said he couldn’t imagine writing an episode without having me take a shower.

Our year-long celebration of Fangoria's 30th Anniversary continues with a phenomenal Prize Pack from Fangoria Entertainment and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Horror Unleashed!

One lucky Fangoria reader will win 30 DVD's from the Horror Unleashed Series (including the new Night Of The Creeps!) and a copy of the Fangoria #284 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition Magazine!

The following titles will be included on DVD

13 Ghosts Blood & Chocolate Bram Stoker’s Dracula Candyman Christine Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King Prom Night (remake) Fright Night Ghostbusters Ghostbusters 2 Hostel Hostel part II I Know What You Did Last Summer Jason and the Argonauts John Carpenter’s Vampires Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein Night of the Creeps November Secret Window Silent Hill The Cave The Covenant The Exorcism of Emily Rose The Fog The Grudge The Return of the Vampire The Revenge of Frankenstein Underworld Underworld Evolution Zombie Strippers To Enter: Send an email to fango30@fangoria.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment just gave Fango the heads up that they're celebrating the Halloween Season with a new promotion called Horror Unleashed.

They're re-issuing over 20 genre titles as part of Horror Unleashed, and with every in-store purchase of a select title you will receive $10 movie cash for Sony Pictures' upcoming release of Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg in theaters October 2, 2009. While they point out that this does not apply to titles purchased online, we've got the new box art below along with all the details on which films will be included!

Night of the Creeps (DVD & Blu-Ray) Available October 27, 2009 Dark Country (DVD) Available October 6, 2009 13 Ghosts Blood & Chocolate Bram Stoker's Dracula (Collector's Edition, 2 discs) Candyman (Special Edition) Christine (Special Edition) Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King (Special Edition) Exorcism of Emily Rose (Special Edition, Unrated) Fright Night Ghostbusters Hostel (Unrated, Director's Cut, 2 discs) Hostel II I Know What You Did Last Summer...