I like the way Warner Home Video thinks. Put yourself in their shoes: You’ve got four box sets full of movies in a new line that you’re going to call “Cult Camp Classics”. How are you going to release them? Monthly? Quarterly? Two sets of two boxes? And then someone over there decides, aw, hell, let’s release all 12 at once. That’s what happened this past Tuesday.

And you have to understand, this is arguably a significant shift for the good. Take their series of old 1930s gangster films starring James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, for example. They released the “Warner Gangsters” box set in January 2005, and then didn’t release the next box, the “Tough Guys” collection, until July 2006. Of course, we’re talking about a LOT of films that Warner is churning out to DVD, and frankly a lot of us haven’t even finished plowing through the Tough Guys box set from last July. But still, this is a great development, even if Trog and Hot Rods to Hell aren’t quite as important to the history of film as say, Little Caesar.

But there are some gems here. Although few people have actually SEEN Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, that darned poster for it is just plain everywhere, and let’s face it, you’re curious to see what all the hubbub is about, no? I’m guessing that first set of “Sci-Fi Thrillers” will be the most popular. But, to us here at CSB, the most interesting in the bunch is buried in pack #4, even if, as CSB regular Dave Austin notes, it’s a bit of a let down:

Probably of the most interest, though sadly not of the highest quality, is The Colossus of Rhodes, to be released individually and as part of Warner’s Cult Camp Classics 4 - Historical Epics collection. The reason for the interest is that this is an early peplum from director Sergio Leone, who, as I’m sure you all know, went on to make his name as the premiere director of spaghetti westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Sadly, this 1961 sword-and-sandals epic is mostly a snooze, with the colossally miscast Rory Calhoun dragging down the rest of the cast. Only an all-too brief finale with the titular statue livens things up.

Still, these sets are exciting. But if you’re looking for something with a little more substance, The Criterion Collection is here to help again this week, with the release of the long-anticipated short film La Jetée coupled with director Chris Marker’s other well-known film Sans Soleil. It’s telling that the name of the dvd starts with the short film – a first for The Criterion Collection, in which short films are usually featured as extras (unless you count Night and Fog, but that was sold as a stand-alone title). In any case, La Jetée is the sci-fi short that inspired Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys, a film so good that even Tideland can’t ruin our memory of it. And although it had been available previously as part of the series of “Short Cinema” dvds (Short Cinema 2 - Dreams, to be precise), it’s exciting to see The Criterion Collection take an interest, as very few of Chris Marker’s films have made it to DVD in the U.S., so here’s hoping this leads to more.

In the mainstream arena, Black Snake Moan, the new film from the director that brought us Hustle and Flow hit dvd (and high definition DVD) this week, alongside the Mark Wahlberg actioner Shooter. Note: all you high-definition fans out there should hold on for a while longer, as the Blu Ray and HD-DVD releases of Shooter are only a few weeks away (July 31).

Many of you probably have not heard of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, but it’s far better than most recent horror movies. In the tradition of Scream, it’s a self-aware slasher flick in the sense that it knows about (and references) the Nightmare on Elm Streets and Friday the 13th-type movies, and I know that tongue-in-cheek awareness rubs some people the wrong way. But if that doesn’t bother you, you’ll probably love it. Smart script, not a quite a full-on spoof but very funny at times, and at the same time it gets the horror part perfectly right: the made-you-jump flashes of the serial killer are great. Plus it has fun cameos from horror icons like Robert Englund and others. Lots of fun.

For those looking for full-on guilty pleasures, however, look no further than Ebola Syndrome, starring one of Hong Kong’s greatest actors Anthony Wong, running around like a lunatic. Herman Yau’s Ebola Syndrome is every bit as low-down and nasty as you might expect. Discotek is giving this one its first official US release, although it is unclear whether this was delayed again (some sites are reporting July 31st now) - in any case, expect a full review soon. Also of interest is Tokyo Shock’s Frankenstein Conquers the World, an long-awaited Toho kaiju film from the golden age that is being given the red carpet treatment with both English and Japanese versions. Finally, keep an eye out for Dark Sky’s release of The Last Hunter, in which Antonio Margheriti brings a gory Italian genre perspective to the Vietnam actioner.

The one time I actually got to meet Anthony Wong, I asked him if he ever had people come up to him shouting “Ebola, Ebola, F- you!” like his character does in the film’s insane climax. He paused for a second, looked me straight in the eye like I was a complete idiot, and said matter-of-factly “No, never.”

Oh. Well, someone should do it. In any case, moving on….

The Blu-Ray folks dropped their guard this week on the high-definition front. Check out this lineup from the folks at HD-DVD: The Big Lebowski, Mallrats, Being John Malkovich, Army of Darkness and Meet Joe Black, plus several others, all exclusive to HD-DVD for the time being. Blu Ray countered by releasing ZERO exclusive releases. None. They have two releases this week, Black Snake Moan and Hustle and Flow, both of which were simultaneously released on HD-DVD. Overall it’s just a drop in the bucket in the high-definition war which will probably end up crowning Blu Ray the champion — but for this week at least, HD-DVD wins with a clean knock out.

Enough of my babbling, the full list of releases this week is copied below. Enjoy!

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Released This Week On DVD (Region 1):

Behind the Mark: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (Anchor Bay)
2007, USA, Director: Scott Glosserman

Black Snake Moan (Paramount)
2007, USA, Director: Craig Brewer, Starring: Samuel Jackson, Christina Ricci

Colossus of Rhodes (Warner Home Video)
1961, Italy , Director: Sergio Leone, Leone’s peplum film. Don’t get your hopes up too much, this one is pretty dull.

Dead Silence (Universal)
2007, USA, Director: James Wan (Horror)

Drive-in Double Feature: Search and Destroy/The Glove (Dark Sky)
1979, USA , Director: William Fruet/Ross Hagen, B-movie action with John Saxon and George Kennedy

Ebola Syndrome (Discotek)
1996, HK, Director: Herman Yau, Anthony Wong running through the streets screaming “Ebola!” It’s awesome.

Frankenstein Conquers the World [aka vs. Baragon] (Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock)
1966, Japan , Director: Ishiro Honda, beloved kaiju film long-missing on DVD

La Jetee/Sans Soleil (Criterion Collection)
1963/83, France, Director: Chris Marker, two of his most fascinating projects

The Last Hunter (Dark Sky)
1980, Italy , Director: Antonio Margheriti, cheesy Vietnam action with David Warbeck

Lost by Dead (Pathfinder)
2002, Japan , Director: Masato Tsujioka, horror/thriller

Cult Camp Classics 1 - Sci-Fi Thrillers (Warner Home Video)
various, various, Director: various, includes Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman 1958, Giant Behemoth, and Queen of Outer Space

Cult Camp Classics 2 - Women in Peril (Warner Home Video)
various, various, Director: various, includes The Big Cube, Caged, and Trog

Cult Camp Classics 3 - Terrorized Travelers (Warner Home Video)
various, various, Director: various, includes Hot Rods to Hell, Skyjacked, and Zero Hour!

Cult Camp Classics 4 - Historical Epics (Warner Home Video)
various, various, Director: various, includes The Colossus of Rhodes, Land of the Pharaohs, and The Prodigal

Shooter (Paramount)
2006, USA , Director: Antoine Fuqua

The Stone Merchant (Monarch Video)
2006, Italy/UK, Director: Renzo Martinelli

Who Can Kill a Child? (Dark Sky)
1976, Spain , Director: Narciso Ibanez Serrador, some “Children of the Corn” action

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Released This Week On BLU-RAY:

Black Snake Moan (Paramount)
2007, USA, Director: Craig Brewer, Starring: Samuel Jackson, Christina Ricci

Hustle & Flow (Paramount)
2005, USA, Director: Craig Brewer

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Released This Week On HD-DVD:

Army of Darkness (Universal)
1992, USA, Director: Sam Raimi

Being John Malkovitch (Universal)
1999, USA, Director: Spike Jonze

The Big Lebowski (Universal)
1998, USA, Director: Joel Coen

Black Snake Moan (Paramount)
2007, USA, Director: Craig Brewer, Starring: Samuel Jackson, Christina Ricci

Dead Silence (Universal)
2007, USA, Director: James Wan (Horror)

Hustle & Flow (Paramount)
2005, USA, Director: Craig Brewer

Mallrats (Universal)
1995, USA, Director: Kevin Smith

Meet Joe Black (Universal)
1998, USA, Director: Martin Brest

Mystery Men (Universal)
1999, USA, Director: Kinka Usher

Unleashed (Universal)
2005, France/USA/UK, Director: Louis Leterrier **This was previously available as a “Combo” HD/DVD, but this release is just the (cheaper) HD-DVD

Also: American Me, Bulletproof, The Watcher

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“Where’s my Tae Bo exercise video!!!!”

Here at Cinema Strikes Back our goal is to sift through the masses of dvd information so you don’t have to — to cut straight to the good stuff, or at least what us handful of film geeks think is the good stuff. That means that many dvd releases are left off the list, either because they suck or more likely because we don’t know better. Although I can’t promise we’ll include everything sent to us (”ARRGH, How could you not include Postnatal Rescue or Topless Fight Club in this week’s lineup!”), we always welcome feedback, and I invite you to email me here if I’ve forgotten any important releases this week.

© Charlie Prince and David Austin