Search This Blog

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Five Great Horror Films That Haven't Hit DVD

HorrorBlips: vote it up!
I often get asked about certain films and if they have ever been released onto dvd, so I compiled the following list of great horror that has never received the digital treatment.


A writer finds that a television has been delivered to his house without him ever ordering one. Not about to look a gift horse in the mouth, the writer accepts the television, only to find that it does not work properly and continuously plays a gory zombie movie titled "Zombie Blood Nightmare". The television allows murderous undead zombies through to the real world, leaving the writer to be found the next day. Three months later, a new family moves into the "murder house". With their parents having not yet returned from years abroad, the teenagers, Jeff and Zoe, begin to unpack. Jeff finds the television in the attic and turns it on, and the undead begin to murder families in the neighborhood. I thought this was one of the better zombie films from the 80's, even though it was direct to video. If you would like to see The Video Dead finally get a dvd release, help the cause by visiting The Video Dead Myspace Page

The Offspring is an anthology with five tales of terror from the blood splattered history pages of Oldfield and are told by the town librarian, master of horror, Vincent Price. The sotry that stands out in this film takes place at the end of the Civil War. A handfull of renegade Union soldiers roam the South on a mission of unholy terror. But they meet their bloody past, the survivors of a vicious massacre, the kids of the dead. I loved this anthology and I hope it gets the treatment it deserves, I mean come on, it has Vincent Price!!

Don't Go To Sleep is an early 80's made-for-tv movie about a family that moves into a new house after their oldest daughter has died. The younger daughter starts being haunted by her sister. Is she crazy? Or does the ghost exist with very devious motives? This film had one of the best and most creepy endings in all of horror. I am shocked it has never had an official dvd release, especially since the Warner Brothers Archives has issued discs of Bad Ronald, Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark, and even Razorback. Its next to impossible to even find this on VHS, so if you can snag one for a good price, do it.

Rituals is about six friends(all Doctors) who meet for their yearly retreat together and fly deep into the Canadian woods to go fishing and hiking. All of these guys have problems(drinking, homosexuality, malpractice, and apathy for their jobs) so we learn what each man's failings are. They run across some strange things, but are having a good time, till the next morning they wake up to find someone has come into the camp at night and taken all of their shoes. The man who planed the trip brought an extra pair and sets off for help, never to be seen again. The others, with no shoes and dwindling with an uneasy feeling of being stalked, wrap their feet up as best as they can and set off to escape the woods. As they fight their way out the "person" leaves clues that show that a doctor did not treat him very well and is now going to take it out on them,or was it one of them that messed him up. Kind of in the same vein as Deliverance but with a lot more violence, and includes a stellar performance by genre vet Hal Holbrook. This was actually supposed to hit dvd late last year, but that has since fallen through and Rituals has faded back into obscurity.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown was shot in 1976, and presents the true story of a Texarkana, Arkansas crime spree in 1946. World War II had ended bringing the military boys back home and Texarkana was enjoying peace and prosperity. From the murky depths of night, a killer mysteriously emerged to taunt and terrorize the inhabitants of the quiet town. Young couples were attacked in their cars on lovers lane in intervals of 21 days...and even a famous Texas Ranger couldn't solve the case.

The story is presented in documentary style, with a narrator weaving direction through the onslaught of terror. The killer in the film wore a white hood and they say this was the inspiration for the same looking hood in Friday The 13th. I have always loved how this film plays out like a movie length Unsolved Mysteries.

3 comments:

  1. Good News! The Offspring is available on DVD under the alternative title "From a Whisper to a Scream"

    http://www.amazon.com/Whisper-Scream-Vincent-Price/dp/B000A7LR96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1270070849&sr=8-1

    ReplyDelete
  2. The "Rituals" DVD fell through? That sucks! No wonder I couldn't find it anywhere. I guess I'll have to make do with my budget-bin DVD release included in a 50-movie pack for a little bit longer...

    --J/Metro

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for The Offspring info, hopefully everybody checks it out. Great film.

    ReplyDelete