Here are a couple of movies that I haven’t seen, but, to be honest, haven’t had the opportunity to. Beyond Re-Animator and The El Duce Tapes are being released by Arrow Video in February, according to an official release we’ve just received.
Beyond Re-Animator sees Dr. Herbert West finally being held accountable for his catastrophic experiments in re-animating the dead, and finds himself incarcerated at a maximum-security penitentiary. With the arrival of a new prison doctor who happens to be an enthusiastic student of West’s work, the medical deviant is afforded the opportunity to resume his grisly studies – this time on his fellow inmates, with predictably hair-raising results. Brian Yuzna (Bride of Re-Animator, Society) directs with make-up effects handled by Screaming Mad George (Society, The Guyver). Beyond Re-Animator is also loaded with bonus content, which is as follows.
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by director Brian Yuzna
• Isolated score track featuring an interview with composer Xavier Capellas
• Beyond & Back, an interview from 2018 with Yuzna
• Death Row Side Show, an interview from 2018 with Jeffrey Combs
• Six Shots by Midnight, an interview with S.T. Toshi, author of I Am Providence: The Life and Times of H.P. Lovecraft
• All in the Head: Brian Yuzna on the Re-Animator Chronicles, an archive interview with the director looking back at the franchise
• In Prison with the Dead, an on-set documentary made by Yazid Benfeghoul for his Gore News fanzine, featuring interviews with Yuzna, Screaming Mad George and others
• Production Art Gallery by illustrator Richard Raaphorst
• Electronic press kit featurette, plus interviews with Yuzna and the cast, and behind-the-scenes footage
• Press conference footage, featuring Yuzna and the cast
• Interviews filmed at the Sitges Film Festival in 2002
• Music video for “Move Your Dead Bones” by Dr. Reanimator
• Alternate opening credits
• Theatrical trailers
• Image gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring new and original artwork by Gary Pullin
The first pressing also includes an illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Xavier Aldana Reyes and Michael Doyle.
The El Duce Tapes is as follows: In the early 90s, aspiring filmmaker (and General Hospital co-star) Ryan Sexton lugged a giant camcorder into some of the seediest clubs and the filthiest apartments in Hollywood. There he filmed hour upon hour of VHS footage of the irrepressible, outrageous “El Duce,” infamous lead singer of the notorious Shock Rock band The Mentors. 30 years later, this dusty stockpile of long-forgotten – and unseen – footage illuminates what El Duce’s wilfully offensive act and controversial views might tell us about 21st century America. This one is also due on 1st February.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Brand new audio commentary with The El Duce Tapes crew
• The Ryan Sexton Tapes – 34-minute illustrated audio conversation between Ryan Sexton and producer Tim Kirk about the shooting of the original VHS footage
• The Nilbog Tapes – Video of the band recording the original score for the film
• More El Duce Tapes – A free-standing alternate assembly of unused material, sort of a sideways sequel
• Tape 2: Hollywood Reservoir – A piece of raw tape providing a peek behind the scenes of the process of shooting the footage and a candid document of El Duce and Ryan’s rapport
• El Duce Stories – A humorous cut-up of a few of El Duce’s famously long aimless stories into one completely incomprehensible and endless word salad
• Return to Rape Rock Mountain – A brand new interview with Steve Broy, aka Dr. Heathen Scum of The Mentors
• Reality Check presents the all-female El Duce tribute band The Womentors
• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by John Pearson and reverse art by Benjamin Marra
FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing by Manish Agarwal
