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ARCHIVED NEWS - 28th DECEMBER 2004 TO 2nd JANUARY 2005 |
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31st December 2004
The disc sleeve says that it's in 4:3 ratio. In fact, it's in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen format. The disc features a behind-the-scenes featurette, which runs for about ten minutes. It doesn't have the commentary track that's on the US disc. The disc is due on the 17th of January, with an RRP of £12.99. 30th December 2004
28th December 2004 A belated Merry Christmas to you all!
The set will gather together all four existing three-disc sets and an exclusive bonus disc, which features an interview with Stephen Gallagher, who wrote many episodes of the series. The box set offers a significant saving over buying the existing sets (which have an RRP of £24.99 each): the set will have an RRP of £39.99. American label Blue Underground has released details of their February batch of releases, which are additions to their Jess Franco collection (The Girl From Rio, Justine, etc). The three releases are led by what's arguably Franco's most acclaimed movie, 1969's Venus In Furs. The film, a delirious erotic shocker starring James Darren and Barbara McNair, has been re-mastered from original vault elements, and is presented uncut, in anamorphic 1.85:1 format, with Dolby Digital mono audio. The disc will feature an exclusive interview with Franco, Jesus in Furs, an audio interview with Austrian co-star Maria Rohm, a theatrical trailer, a poster and stills gallery and Franco bio. RRP for the disc is $19.99. Notorious women-in-prison drama 99 Women, which stars Maria Schell, Herbert Lom, Thunderball's Luciana Paluszzi and Rosalba Neri, will be released in two versions: an Unrated Director's Cut, and an X-Rated 'French' Version. The 99 Women - Unrated Director's Cut has been restored from the producer's own vault materials, and runs for approximately ninety-minutes. The disc will feature an interview with Franco, Jess' Women, deleted and alternate scenes, a theatrical trailer, a poster and stills gallery and Franco bio. The 99 Women - X-Rated French Version, a.k.a. Les Brulantes, runs eight minutes longer and features "all of its long-rumoured scenes of extreme sexuality, now totally uncut for the first time ever in America!" This version is in French, with optional English subtitles. Both versions of the film will be presented in anamorphic 1.66:1 format, with Dolby Digital mono audio. List price for the Unrated Director's Cut is $19.99, the RRP for the limited edition X-Rated French Version is $29.99.
Cutthroat Alley, summarised by label M.I.A. as "Scream meets Boyz 'N The Hood", will be released on DVD on January the 24th. The film is presented in its original aspect ratio, which is apparently 1.22:1 (virtually 4:3, but with very thin black borders at the sides). The press release states that the film has 5.1 audio, but the copy I was sent was 2.0 (at 224kbps). The disc features the film's "theatrical" trailer (as far as I can see, the film didn't get a theatrical release), and a "sneak preview" (trailer) for Hatchetman (sadly not Victor Salva's 1995 Lance Henriksen / Eric Roberts thriller Hatchet Man, a.k.a. Nature of the Beast, which hasn't been released on DVD). RRP is £15.99.
If you were a big fan of the series, then Baker's arrival was a life-changing event. I certainly remember the episode vividly, and remember exactly where I was when it was shown. If you were a really big fan then this particular picture should hold a very special place in your memories: it's the photo' the BBC used to send out to people who wrote in to the production office. I was as keen as mustard, and have a small collection of them! Happy anniversary, Tom! Previous Zeta Minor News entries can viewed here. |
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Just
a brief note to put something on the record about Mosaic's upcoming
release of obscure cannibal movie Death Valley: The Revenge of Bloody
Bill. 
I've
added a review of the BFI's Under The Skin DVD to the site today.
The review compares the new disc to the R1 version, which was released a
couple of years ago. The film features Samantha Morton, who gives a
mesmerising performance, as a young woman whose life crumbles apart when
her mother dies. Click on the sleeve image, right, or
Revelation
will release a thirteen-disc Bugs - The Complete Series DVD box set
on February the 21st. 
Finally,
here's a sobering thought for my fellow Doctor Who fans. It's
thirty years today since the first episode of Tom Baker's first story,
Robot, was broadcast. 
