Bigfoot Lives on Special Edition Blu-ray Later This Year!

We've made it no secret that we here at Uphill Both Ways love the legend(s) of Bigfoot - from episodes on "In Search Of" to movies like The Legend of Boggy Creek, and even his appearances on "The Six Million Dollar Man".  So imagine our glee when we heard Synapse Films was releasing a special edition of one of the more elusive films about ol' Sasquatch (which, of course, only seems apropos) later this year!

Like its legendary title monster, a newly remastered widescreen edition of THE CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE would spend years avoiding capture, its existence a mystery that dared to be solved.  But now, this December 13, Synapse Films has finally done the impossible and captured this 70s cult favorite in a new restoration with special features for all to finally see - and believe!

 

There’s a hairy humanoid beast lurking in the Louisiana swamps, but only trapper Joe Canton (Jack Elam, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST) has seen it and lived to tell the tale, and the other residents of Oil City, Louisiana don’t talk about it. But that’s not about to stop intrepid grad students Pahoo (Dennis Fimple, HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES) and Rives (John David Carson, EMPIRE OF THE ANTS), who are determined to track down the Bigfoot-like creature. Defying local sheriff Billy Carter (Bill Thurman, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW), the duo trek deep into the wilds of Black Lake, and a series of frightening encounters make it clear the monster is no mere legend.

Following in the (big) footsteps of THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK and similar docudramas, 1976’s CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE is a fictional Sasquatch saga, albeit one inspired by real reports. With a colorful cast, also including Dub Taylor (THE WILD BUNCH), and plenty of rural atmosphere courtesy of cinematographer Dean Cundey (HALLOWEEN, JURASSIC PARK), scripter Jim McCullough Jr.—who also co-stars—and director Joy Houck Jr. bring touches of humor and humanity that complement the mystery of the monster, and the terror of its attacks. A longtime late-night TV favorite, CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE now roars onto both Blu-ray and DVD formats with a new restoration and a boatload of special features!

 

MONSTROUS SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE

• Brand-new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative
• Audio commentary with author/filmmaker Michael Gingold and film historian Chris Poggiali
• SWAMP STORIES – All-new featurette with Director of Photography Dean Cundey
• Original theatrical trailer and radio spot
• Newly translated optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

BLU-RAY SPECIFICATIONS

VIDEO:    High-Definition 1080p Widescreen (2.35:1) Presentation / AVC Codec

AUDIO: DTS-HD MA English 2.0 Original Mono

SUBTITLES: English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

ALL REGION

RETAIL PRICE: $29.95

DVD SPECIFICATIONS

VIDEO: Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) Presentation / MPEG-2

AUDIO: Dolby Digital English 2.0 Original Mono

SUBTITLES: English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

ALL REGION

RETAIL PRICE: $19.95

AVAILABLE DECEMBER 13, 2022  

RATED PG -  1976 - 95 MINS. -  COLOR

 

PLEASE NOTE: The Limited Edition version (with slipcover) is currently available exclusively on the Synapse Films website and at Diabolik DVD.  This newly announced mass-market edition (available December 13, 2022) will not have the website exclusive slipcover.

Fantasia Serves Up Ghoulishness, Gore, and Guffaws with Its Retro Fare

- by Joseph Perry

North America’s largest genre film fest, the stupendous Fantasia International Film Festival, celebrates its 26th anniversary in Montreal this summer, running from July 14—August 3. Fantasia has a tantalizing array of more than 130 feature films and more than 200 shorts from around the globe. Although the main focus is on new releases, Fantasia always outdoes itself with selecting a stunning lineup of older films, too, most of which hit right in the Uphill Both Ways wheelhouse.

Number one on my must-see list is not a new film, but its subject is one of my favorite TV heroes since childhood. Shin Ultraman reunites the filmmaking pair behind 2016’s Shin Godzilla, which I had a lot of fun with. This should be an intriguing take on the iconic Japanese superhero.

Think you have seen all of the old-school giant-monster movies out there? Think again, as Fantasia presents the restored version of 1967 South Korean movie Space Monster Wangmagwi. As a lifelong monster kid, I can’t wait to check out this creature feature. Also in the film restoration department, Blue Sunshine blew me away when I saw it for the first time, and it should be even wilder with Fantasia’s newly restored version. I have only read about the insanity of The Deadly Spawn, so I’m glad that my initial viewing will be the restored version on offer.

Fantasia is celebrating Kier-La Janisse’s book House of Psychotic Women — billed as “an autobiographical topography of female neurosis in horror and exploitation films” — with a section of shockers both classic and seldom seen. Having recently reviewed the terrific Italian folk horror possession outing Il Demonio for Uphill Both Ways, tops on my radar for this section are the Polish vampire film I Like Bats and Italian Elizabeth Taylor vehicle Identikit.

There’s plenty more to drool over, so have a gander at what classics and clas-sicks Fantasia has on tap for this summer! All descriptions are from the fest’s official press announcements. And keep eyes and ears out for reviews from yours truly right here on the Uphill Both Ways site and on our podcast!


SHIN ULTRAMAN REIMAGINES AN ESSENTIAL ICON OF JAPANESE POP SCI-FI

Following its enormously successful release in Japan, Fantasia unleashes the highly anticipated SHIN ULTRAMAN. Directed by Shinji Higuchi, famed for the special-effects work on 1990s GAMERA revival and for directing the live-action ATTACK ON TITAN films; and scripted by Hideaki Anno, the genius behind the hit anime NEON GENESIS EVANGELION. SHIN ULTRAMAN reunites the pair, who co-directed 2016’s astounding SHIN GODZILLA, to reimagine another essential icon of tokusatsu, Japan’s science-fiction TV and cinema. Debuted in 1966, Tsuburaya Productions’ giant, shiny superhero from space—and the wild array of alien monsters he confronts—have embedded themselves in the nation’s popular culture for generations. With auteur flair, unprecedented visual impact, and genuine affection for the Ultraman franchise, Anno and Higuchi now renew, as only they could, the action-packed cosmic saga of Ultraman, his alter ego Shinji Kaminaga, and his colleagues in the science police force battling endless extraterrestrial threats. North American Premiere

Synapse Films to Release Special Edition Blu-ray of “The Kindred”

IN TIME FOR HALLOWEEN, SYNAPSE FILMS UNLEASHES “THE KINDRED” SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY ON OCTOBER 25TH!

In the 25 year history of Synapse Films perhaps no film in the company's storied history had as long a road to shelves as The Kindred, which took many years and a lot of hard work to complete.  Now, The Kindred is finally unleashed on Blu-ray this October 25th with a stellar new 4K restoration of the complete, unrated version of the film, accompanied by plenty of extras, making it perfect monstrous viewing for Halloween 2022!

 

Academy Award-winning screen legends Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night; Duck, You Sucker) and Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire; Planet of the Apes) star in The Kindred, a chilling tale of a genetic experiment gone wrong… very wrong!

Movie Review - "The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue" (1974)

In 1968 with The Night of the Living Dead, George Romero ushered in the modern take on the zombie that all know today; shambling, bloodthirsty, and hard to (re)kill outside of a bullet to the brain.  Throughout the next decade until his sequel, Dawn of the Dead, landed, there were many similar, or at least like-minded entries in the sub-genre out of Europe. Jean Rollin’s Grapes of Death (1978), Bob Clark’s Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1973), and Jorge Grau's Living Dead at Manchester Morgue are just a few. Here in the latter, as the synopsis reads, "A strange twist of fate brings two young travelers, George (Ray Lovelock - The Cassandra Crossing) and Edna (Christine Galbo - What Have You Done to Solange?), to a small town where an experimental agricultural machine may be bringing the dead back to life! As zombies infest the area and attack the living, a bullheaded detective (Arthur Kennedy) thinks the couple are Satanists responsible for the local killings. George and Edna have to fight for their lives, and prove their innocence, as they try to stop the impending zombie apocalypse!"

"Massacre at Central High"

Renee Daalder’s Cult Classic Comes To Blu-ray With Synapse Films’ Special Edition of MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH, Available September 13!

“A very good movie, a considerable filmmaking achievement.” - Roger Ebert, Sneak Previews

“Witty, surprising, very entertaining.” - Vincent Canby, The New York Times

It's no secret that Joseph and Mike are fans of genre films from all decades, but those from the 70s and 80s will always hold a special place in their collective heart.  Make it a movie that played well at the drive-in and that's an extra special treat!  Synapse Films looks to provide one of those treats later this year with the Blu ray release of MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH.

Renee Daalder’s MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH remains one of the premiere genre films of the 1970s, a powerful and influential blend of political allegory, social commentary and exploitation film that remains as compelling today as it was in 1976.  Plagued by distribution woes, it would find an audience in the early days of cable TV and VHS but remained out of circulation for decades.  Now, Synapse Films’ Blu-ray release of MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH arrives just in time for students to go back to school, newly remastered (supervised by director Renee Daalder)  with hours of special features befitting this genre classic.  

When new student David (Derrel Maury) arrives at Central High, he discovers that it is lorded over by a gang of bullies who rule the school through intimidation and violence. David’s friend Mark (Andrew Stevens, THE FURY) encourages him to join this dominant clique, but instead David stands up for their victims, and the gang cripples him in retaliation. Soon David begins taking steps to end their reign of terror permanently, setting in motion an explosive cycle of killing that may not end until no one is left to graduate!

Co-starring Robert Carradine (REVENGE OF THE NERDS), Kimberly Beck (FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER), and Cheryl “Rainbeaux” Smith (REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS), MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH is the startling American debut of Dutch writer/director Renee Daalder. While packing in all the sex and violence that drive-in audiences demanded, Daalder also delivers a potent allegory about fascism and power structures in a high-school world where adults are absent. A cult and critical favorite since its 1976 release (and an evident influence on the classic HEATHERS), MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH now makes its long-awaited restored and remastered BLU-RAY debut, so you can study Daalder’s classic like never before and educate yourself with all-new special features!

 

EXPLOSIVE SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

• High-definition 1080p remaster scanned, transferred and supervised by director Renee Daalder.
• Secondary audio track with an episode of Mike White’s ‘The Projection Booth’ Podcast, featuring interviews with cast members Andrew Stevens, Robert Carradine, Derrel Maury and Rex Steven Sikes.
• Audio interview with director Renee Daalder, conducted by writer/horror historian Michael Gingold.
• HELL IN THE HALLWAYS: The Making of “Massacre at Central High” – New “making of” documentary produced by Red Shirt Pictures.
• Theatrical trailer, TV spot and radio spot.
• Still gallery.
• Newly translated removable English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

This release of MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH is REGION FREE for world-wide playback.

BLU-RAY SPECIFICATIONS

VIDEO: High-Definition (1.78:1) Widescreen Presentation / AVC 

AUDIO: DTS HD-MA English 2.0 Original Mono Soundtrack

SUBTITLES: English for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing

ITEM #: SFD0207  

UPC CODE: 654930323090  

SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE: $34.95

The Dead Rise Like Never Before!

SYNAPSE FILMS BRINGS THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE TO BLU-RAY JUNE 7TH!

“This is one of my favorite zombie films of them all; a genuinely chilling UK set horror...” 

– Edgar Wright. Director of Last Night in Soho, Baby Driver and Shaun of the Dead

"[A] still-startling nightmare creation that was years ahead of its time." 

- Mitch Davis, Fantasia Film Festival

"The transfer itself is quite the eye opener compared to the earlier Blu-rays and other transfers, with a gargantuan increase in detail throughout... As far as upgrades go, this is one of the most extreme in recent memory." 

- Mondo-Digital.com

With its revolutionary mix of shocking-for-its-time violence and sociopolitical themes, George A. Romero's 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead quickly proved to be enormously influential with filmmakers around the world, and few were able to match its power like Jorge Grau's The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue.  Mixing a strong environmental statement with unforgettably terrifying set pieces, Grau's film stands on its own as a horror classic, and now it's been restored to its horrifying glory on Blu-ray by Synapse Films!

A strange twist of fate brings two young travelers, George (Ray Lovelock, The Cassandra Crossing) and Edna (Christine Galbo, The House That Screamed), to a small town where an experimental agricultural machine may be bringing the dead back to life! As zombies infest the area and attack the living, a bull-headed detective (Academy Award® nominee Arthur Kennedy, Peyton Place) thinks the couple are Satanists responsible for the local killings. George and Edna have to fight for their lives, and prove their innocence, as they try to stop the impending zombie apocalypse!

 

The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie and Don’t Open the Window) is a gory horror tale from Spanish director Jorge Grau and widely considered to be one of the best zombie films ever made. Beautifully restored in 4K from the original camera negative, Synapse Films presents the film on Blu-ray with the true original English theatrical mono mix and the real opening and closing credit sequences intact.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE:

• Exclusive new 4K restoration from the original 35mm camera negative

• New 5.1 English stereo surround remix made exclusively for the Synapse Films release

• Two audio commentaries featuring authors and film scholars Troy Howarth, Nathaniel Thompson and Bruce Holecheck

• Restoration of the true original English language theatrical mono mix

• Jorge Grau - Catalonia’s Cult Film King (89 mins.) – This extensive feature-length documentary explores the life and films of director Jorge Grau

• The Scene of the Crime - Giannetto De Rossi in Discussion from Manchester (16 Mins.)

• Giannetto De Rossi - Q&A at the Festival of Fantastic Films, UK (43 Mins)

• Theatrical trailer, TV spots and radio spots

• Newly translated removable English SDH subtitles

This release of THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE is REGION FREE.

 

Director: Jorge Grau

Starring: Ray Lovelock; Arthur Kennedy; Christine Galbo

Runtime: 93 minutes

Language: English

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Aspect Ratio: High-Definition 1080p (1.85:1) Widescreen

Audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1 English Stereo Surround and Original English Mono

Format: Blu-ray

Region: ALL

Item Number: SFD0206

UPC: 654930322994

Suggested Retail Price: $34.95

Release Date: June 7, 2022

Visit the Synapse Films website at www.synapsefilms.com