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.

Jiří Barta is a Czech stop-motion animator from Prague, famous for his only other feature-length film, Toys in the Attic (2009). He is well known for using wood as a medium to create his animations. This new Blu-ray set from Deaf Crocodile features much of his work. On the first disc we have 1986's The Pied Piper, a 53 minute film that is based on the classic fairytale about the Pied Piper of Hamlyn who cleansed a village of rats and then returned for the townsfolks children when the villagers weren’t forthcoming with his payment, while disc two features seven shorts, Riddles for A Candy, Disc Jockey, The Project, The Vanished World of Gloves, The Ballad of the Green Wood, The Last Booty and The Club of the Laid Off. 

Caro Nihil Momenti Est is a thirty-minute slab of crude and morally corrupted walled noise from this rather mysterious US-based project, which recently surfaced like a bloated corpse in water on the scene.

Ohrensuppe presents the listener with two slabs of densely searing and audio nerve-slicing walled noise. Each 'wall' runs around the thirty-minute mark, and each is equally dense and crudely gnarly.

Now here’s a suitably barren ‘n’ battering slice of walled noise from Wisconsin’s Vacant Algin. The single thirty-minute ‘wall’ brings together steadily moving yet gloomy post-industrial texturing, with buffing and baying tone for a bleakly atmospheric, yet seared ride.

Enter The CATHEDRAL sees the very welcome return of Spain’s  Damien De Coene(Charles Razeur, Verwelk, Renoffski), who has been absent from the world of walled noise for a few years. This digital release features a single ‘wall’ created by that classic of wall noise tools- a DOD effects pedal.

Here’s a wall-noise split between Quebec-based Pasta Club and Poland’s Olion. Both tracks roll in at around the fifteen-minute mark, with each having a fairly thick, though different takes on this most extreme form of sound.

From the late  1990’s, Violent New Breed, I think, stands as one of the ambitious  SOV Horror films I’ve ever seen. It has several interwoven storylines, a large cast, and some impressive effects ‘n’ gore. The film weaves together the following plot lines: two cops investigating a new street drug which causes demonic birth, a group of marauding demons in human form, the revealing of a young antichrist, and a few other subplots. It’s certainly impressive, if at points slightly muddled/ confused SOV Horror film- that will most certainly want to be seen by fans of the genre.

Ozone: The Attack of the Redneck Mutants is a mid-'80s slice of obscure regional horror- focusing on a small Texas town beset by nuclear zombies. It’s a very low-budget affair, with gloppy/ melty gore effects, rather hapless/ hopeless heroes, a sense of off-key humour, and a fair bit of very clear padding. Here from Visual Vengeance, resurrectors of long-forgotten VHS fare, is a Blu-ray release of the film.   Taking in several commentary tracks, a fair few other extras, and for this first edition O-Card with alternate art by The Dude,12-page Mini Comic Book, Ozone Mutant Puke Bag, and Muther Video Logo Sticker