DVD Drive-in has word that Sony Home Entertainment will be releasing "Icons of Horror: Hammer Films" on October 14th. The DVD box set will contain four films (on two discs) from the classic horror studio: The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb, Scream of Fear (aka Taste of Fear), and The Gorgon. No specifics on special features as of yet, but DVD Drive-in says to expect commentaries, trailers, and newly remastered transfers.
We'll have more details on this set as they are released.
On September 9th, 2008, Fox Home Video will release "Fox Horror Classics, Volume 2", a three-disc box set of classic thrillers featuring Chandu the Magician, Dr. Renault's Secret, and Dragonwyck. The set will have a suggested retail price of $19.98. Each film in the set will have a number of special features, including featurettes, still galleries, and restoration comparisons. A film-by-film breakdown of each title in the set is below:
MGM is putting together a 20th Anniversary Special Edition DVD of Tom Holland's 1988 killer doll movie Child's Play, to be released by Fox Home Video on September 9th, 2008. The disc will feature a new 1.85:1 widescreen transfer, a 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack, an audio commentary, a "selected scene" commentary by the film's villainous doll Chucky (Brad Dourif), a series of featurettes (Evil Comes in Small Packages), a vintage featurette (Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child's Play), a trailer, a photo gallery and more.
Variety Asia Online reports that Tartan Films USA, the American branch of UK-based Tartan Films, appears to have shut down. All of its assets, including office furniture and the company's 101-title film library, were auctioned off on May 19th in a foreclosure sale. No word yet on who picked up the titles, which include several East Asian horror titles like Oldboy, Shutter, Marebito, and R-Point, as well as art house films such as The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and Cave of the Yellow Dog.
Over at the Classic Horror Film Board (no relation to Classic-Horror.com), Jim Clatterbaugh reports that he spoke with a representative over at Universal, who stated that the studio had no plans to release classic horror DVDs this year (excepting the upcoming Special Edition of The Mummy). Apparently, it's past the time to begin planning such a release, as they are already working on their 2009 schedule.
This is apparently ancient news (from February), but I completely missed it. I'm posting it now in case anybody else shares my lack of timeliness. As part of a press release about Warner Bros.'s 85th Birthday, Warner Home Video announced that a new classic horror box set would be forthcoming in the fourth quarter of this year (between October and December).
Karl Freund's 1932 classic The Mummy, featuring Boris Karloff and Zita Johann, will be released in a 2-Disc Special Edition DVD set on July 8th, 2008, as part of the Universal Legacy Series. The set comes out just a month before the theatrical release of The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (a sequel to Stephen Sommers' 1999 Mummy remake). According to DVDTimes.co.uk, Freund's original will be presented in 1.33:1 aspect ratio with the soundtrack in mono.
