#American International Pictures

[atomic-raunch]

Paul Blaisdell showing off some of his creations

[doubtfultaste]

Madhouse (1974)

[atomic-chronoscaph]

War of the Colossal Beast (1958)

[hallucinationhorrors]

[oldshowbiz]

same

[brokehorrorfan]

Reptilicus will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on August 27. Considered the Scandinavian answer to Godzilla, the 1961 monster movie was filmed in both English and Danish.

The American version is directed by Sidney W. Pink (Journey to the Seventh Planet), while Poul Bang helms the Danish. Pink co-wrote the script with Ib Melchior (Planet of the Vampires). Carl Ottosen, Ann Smyrner, Mimi Heinrich, and Dirch Passer star.

The American version of Reptilicus has been newly restored in 4K from the original negative. A high-definition transfer of Danish version is also included. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

82-minute American version

95-minute Danish version with newly translated English subtitles

Audio commentary by film historians Nicolas Barbano and Kim Newman (new)

Fifty Million Years Out of Time: Revisiting Reptilicus - 32-minute featurette with film historians Robert Parigi and C. Courtney Joyner (new)

Pink Goes West: Life After Reptilicus - Film historian Jay Jennings on Sidney W. Pink

Invincible… Indestructible - Film historian Stephen R. Bissette on Reptilicus

Promotional image gallery

A group of mining engineers prospecting for copper in the mountains of Lapland make an incredible discovery when their drilling unearths the remains of a giant, prehistoric amphibious reptile. A section of the creature’s tail is exhumed from beneath the frozen tundra and transported to the National Aquarium in Copenhagen, where it’s placed in a cold room to be studied by Professor Otto Martens and his research team. But when the door to the room is accidentally left ajar, the tail segment begins to thaw, quickly regenerating itself into a gigantic beast! Now loose and embarking on a cross-country rampage, the military are forced to employ all means necessary to rout the creature - now dubbed “Reptilicus” - before it launches a full-scale attack on the capital.

Pre-order Reptilicus.

[flight-to-mars]

Director Joe Dante gave his mentor, Roger Corman a cameo in The Howling (1981) as a man impatiently waiting for Dee Wallace to finish her phone call. He had Roger check the change slot first before making his call, reflecting his known thriftiness. RIP Roger Corman

[jazznoisehere]

Twist All Night (1961)

[halloweenhundreds]

All right, pets: you know the drill by now. Every year I save up as much of my monster movies, horror movies, spooky movies, scary movies, slashers, seasonally-appropriate thrillers, etc throughout the rest of the year and watch them all over September and October. I’ll see at least a hundred movies this season, but still less than my all time record. There’ll be some entries people want to quibble over but I’ll still be able to do over 100 even with a lot of asterisks….

Anyhow, I always like to start with something fun and light. The Comedy of Terrors is an absolute grand slam of talents before and behind the camera, and it’s easy to love all of these murderous undertakers and such. Price in particular is as lovable as he is hatable. Overdue for a rewatch.

[schlock-luster-video]

On July 1, 1977, The Town That Dreaded Sundown debuted in Ireland.

Here's some new Phantom art to mark the occasion!

[theersatzcowboy]

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Exploitation cinema meets Arthouse Pretensions in this stylish horror classic from the late maestro of American independent cinema, shot by a future filmmaking icon and led by a pitch-perfect Vincent Price, blurring lines of highbrow/lowbrow art.

Director: Roger Corman

Cinematographer: Nicolas Roeg

Starring: Vincent Price, Jane Asher, Hazel Court, Patrick Magee, David Weston, Nigel Green, John Westbrook

[doubtfultaste]

Madhouse (1974)

[maedior]

Roger Corman, 1926-2024.

[hallucinationhorrors]

[oldshowbiz]

1958.

American International Pictures presents a horror movie starring my next door neighbor. She turns 99-years-old next month.

[travsd]

R.I.P. Jonathan Haze

Thanks, Eve Golden, for passing along the intel about the passing of Jonathan Haze (Jack Schachter, 1929-2024). You may think there’s something kind of wrong about eulogizing him here today, as opposed to Quincy Jones, but I assure you that it’s just a matter of bandwidth. Quincy Jones, that’s a big post, and I’ll get to him, for I admired him to no end. But Jonathan Haze’s story can be told…