From the early 1980’s, Fade To Black is an original crossbreed between slasher and character study, with light touches of satire and comedy woven in. It regards a shy and geeky film-obsessed twenty-something, who suddenly snaps, going on a killing spree, dressed as various characters from Hollywoods past. From 88 Films, as part of their Slasher Classic Collection series, is a dual UHD & Blu-ray release of the film, taking in the 4K scan, two new commentary tracks, a selection of new extras, and a few archive bits.

You are sitting in a room. It is not clear who is there with you, or what they brought with them today (the present case concerns the year 2006), but there you are. You know this because all of the sounds have been spatialized, to the point where they appear to emerge out of the black night of silence that engulfs them. Things are tapped on, rattled, agitated, and otherwise excited, much like the microphones (we imagine) that originally bore witness to this room and the corresponding sonic events. In fact, it is not so much you but said listening devices that are in this room, much in the way the film camera replaced the eyes of a detective in classic noir. It could be a soundtrack to some horror piece dedicated to blindness, but then the fact of things appearing closer and farther away would make little sense if it were. 

Westworld is one of the quintessential and influential sci-fi/ action films of the 1970’s. It regards the rich folks' holiday resort of the title, where the participants can go back to the wild west- kill, fight, and carry out all manner of debauchery without any worry/ harm, as the place is manned by androids.  Unfortunately for two Chicago businessmen buddies- played by Richard Benjamin and James Brolin- things go somewhat awry ( to put it very mildly).  The film cleverly blurs and blends elements of sci-fi, action thriller, western parody, and satire.  Here from Arrow Video- both in the UK and Stateside is a new release of the film. It’s available as either a Blu- Ray or UHD- taking in a crisp & clean 4k scan, a new commentary track & interviews- as well as a great selection of new and archive extras.

Prolific and well-respected electronic/experimental artist, Carlos Giffoni, swings back into the public eye with his latest, Pendulum. Featuring a number of duets with other well-known artists the world over, this latest work runs the gamut of sound, style, tone, and texture. Hard to put one's finger on, but even harder to ignore, Pendulum is a fantastic collaboration and celebration of the world, sound, and imagination.

The Pike is a pulp horror/when-creatures-attack novel set in Lake Windemere, regarding a giant blood thirsty fish. First appearing in 1982, it was the first novel written by Cliff Twemlow, a key figure in micro-budgeted/ often SOV  action/horror/sci-fi cinema of the UK, which last year was celebrated by the excellent InterVision/ Severin Blu Ray Boxset Bloody Legend: The Complete Twemlow Collection- which brought together a doc about the great man, eleven of his features and much more. Here from Severin/ Encyclopocalypse Publications is a reprint of the book.

HÉR is a sort of cinematic folk or experimental post-punk project, which takes influence from traditional Viking music.  Despite being released on Season of Mist, their debut Monochrome is not metal of any kind, but rather a soundtracky landscape of tribal drums, chants, plodding bass guitar and circular string figures.