Enter the Video Store: Empire of Screams - blu-ray

Opgelet, import zonder NL ondertiteling.

Remember the shelves of your local video store? Those days aren’t gone! Reject reality and substitute your own with Arrow Video! In 1983, entrepreneurial producer and director Charles Band founded Empire International Pictures, which would go on to make some of the most memorable and beloved genre movies of the 1980s. Empire became a mainstay of video stores across the world with their catchy titles, outlandish art, and Band’s wholehearted belief in giving audiences a good time.

In The Dungeonmaster (AKA Ragewar), computer programmer Paul Bradford is sucked into a fantasy world by Mestema, a demonic sorcerer in search of a worthy opponent. Meanwhile, fresh from the one-two punch of Re-Animator and From Beyond, director Stuart Gordon takes a turn toward fairytale gothic in Dolls, in which a group of strangers find themselves forced to seek shelter at the isolated home of an old toymaker and his wife, only to find that the puppets and dolls have a vicious life of their own. In Cellar Dweller, a comic book artist (Jeffrey Combs) with a penchant for the macabre takes inspiration from an ancient tome and unleashes an ancient evil. Arena presents the ultimate fight night event: man vs monster! In the far future of 4038, a short order cook becomes the first human in fifty years to compete in an intergalactic boxing event on the far side of the universe. Finally in Robot Jox, Stuart Gordon directs Empire Pictures’ most ambitious movie yet, as men and women pilot giant machines in gladiatorial battle to settle international disputes over territory.

Restored for the digital era with a wealth of extras, these films have never looked better. No need for a time machine, these golden age video classics will send you back to the 80s!

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• 2K restorations by Arrow Films from the best available materials
• High Definition Blu-Ray (1080p) presentations of all five films
• Original lossless mono/stereo/5.1 audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Slipcase packaging featuring original artwork by Laurie Greasley
• Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ilan Sheady

  DISC ONE - THE DUNGEONMASTER

• 2K restoration from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentations of three different versions of the film: the US theatrical version (The Dungeonmaster), the pre-release version (Ragewar), and the international version (Ragewar) available via seamless branching
• Original lossless mono audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary with star Jeffrey Byron, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
• I Reject Your Reality and Substitute My Own, an interview with star Jeffrey Byron
• Theatrical trailer
• Alternate trailer
• Image gallery

  DISC TWO - DOLLS

• 2K restoration from a 35mm interpositive
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless stereo and 5.1 audio options
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by David DeCoteau, Empire alumnus and friend of Stuart Gordon, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
• Archive audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon and writer Ed Naha
• Archive audio commentary with cast members Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Stephen Lee, Carrie Lorraine, and Ian Patrick Williams
• Assembling Dolls, an interview with Lee Percy, editor of Dolls, Re-Animator, and From Beyond
• Toys of Terror: The Making of Dolls
• Film-to-storyboard comparison
• Theatrical trailer
• Alternate trailer
• UK home video trailer
• Image gallery

  DISC THREE - CELLAR DWELLER

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation featuring additional grading and picture restoration by Arrow Films
• Original lossless stereo audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary by special make-up effects artist Michael Deak who inhabited the Cellar Dweller creature suit, moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
• Grabbed by the Ghoulies, an appreciation of John Carl Buechler, special make-up effects artist of many Empire Pictures films and director of Cellar Dweller by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
• Inside the Cellar, an interview with special make-up effects artist Michael Deak about his work on Cellar Dweller
• Original sales sheet
• Original production notes
• VHS trailer
• Empire Pictures trailer reel
• Image galleries, including behind the scenes photos courtesy of special make-up effects artist Michael Deak

  DISC FOUR - ARENA

• 2K restoration from a 35mm print
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless stereo audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Audio commentary with director Peter Manoogian moderated by film critics Matty Budrewicz and Dave Wain
• Not His Arena, an interview with Danny Bilson, co-screenwriter of Arena, Trancers, Zone Troopers, and The Rocketeer
• Empire of Monsters, an interview with special make-up effects artist Michael Deak
• Theatrical trailer
• Image galleries

  DISC FIVE - ROBOT JOX

• 2K restoration from the original camera negative
• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original lossless stereo audio
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• Archive audio commentary with director Stuart Gordon
• Archive audio commentary with associate effects director Paul Gentry, mechanical effects artist Mark Rappaport, and stop motion animator Paul Jessel
• Crash and Burn, an interview with actor Gary Graham
• Her Name is Athena, an interview with actress Anne-Marie Johnson
• The Scale of Battle: David Allen and the FX of Robot Jox, a documentary appreciation of stop motion animator David Allen by those who knew him, featuring contributions from fellow visual effects practitioners Dennis Muren (Star Wars, Jurassic Park), Yancy Calzada (Evil Dead 2, Starship Troopers), Paul Gentry (Robot Jox, The Fifth Element), and John Vincent (Freaked, Prehysteria)
• Looking Back, an archival interview with actor Paul Koslo
• Salvaged from the Wreckage, an archive of behind the scenes photos courtesy of associate effects director Paul Gentry
• Original sales sheet
• Original production notes
• Theatrical trailer
• Image galleries