Appearing eight years after the original, The Hills Have Eyes Part II was very much more of a conventional slasher with a desert setting. The film was once again helmed by horror legend Wes Craven, and while it’s far from a masterpiece & often decidedly silly stalk ‘n’ slash venture- there are some neat trap based kills,  amusing dialogue, the odd effective jump, as well some fairly eerier atmospherics. From Arrow Video here we have a recent Blu Ray reissue of the film- featuring a new commentary track from the always great slasher collective The Hysteria Continues, and a new documentary about the film.

Directed by Henri Pachard and the originally uncredited Roberta Findlay, who also produced and shot the film, Mascara is an erotic psychological drama from 1983 starring Lisa De Leeuw and Lee Carroll alongside Lisa Cintrice, Tiffany Clark, Bobby Astyr, Robert Kerman and the legendary Ron Jeremy in smaller roles. The film has been newly scanned and restored in 2k from the original 35mm negatives and looks better than ever.

Live At Sonic City is a two-disc CD and DVD set offering up the final ever live performance from noise terrorists & sonic nihilist The New Blockaders. Both discs feature the same forty-minute performance, which sees the balaclava two-piece making rather splendid & glorious noise chaos- which mostly remains full, all-engulfing & kind of engrossing though-out.

Cheminant is the latest collection of works from French pianist/composer Melaine Dalibert- who has a knack of creating often stark, yet moody & memorable piano work. This recent release comes in the form of a CD on modern composition/ modern classic label Elsewhere Music- the CD appears in a rather striking dark green mini gatefold, that takes in various abstract patterns/ shapes.

Taking Tiger Mountain is an early 1980’s art film, featuring Bill Paxton in his first screen role- it’s a black & white shot Sci-fi film set in a highly controlled future, where gender is switched/ controlled. It’s a decidedly mixed bag of a film- that sits more like a mid-1960’s- to-early 1970’s venture, feeling like a haphazard blend of early Cronberg, and  Warhol at his more ponderous. This first-ever digital release of this oddity appears on Vinegar Syndrome- featuring the labels always classy new print, and a good selection of extras.

Black Metal, perhaps, is the most popular- yet extreme form of the genre. It has many different subgenres whose roots are in the so-called, Raw Black Metal. At the dawn of the  of the form almost all Black Metal bands had such a sound - raw, dirty, unbalanced, close to rehearsal recordings of garage punk bands. Over time, the sound and professionalism of the musicians improved, raising the “underground” bands to a higher level. However, Raw Black Metal has firmly taken its place in the hearts and minds of musicians and fans, forming a fairly large army of supporters around the world.

Awirë is an example fleeting ‘n’ darting improv- that’s somewhere between waving-to-sour-drone matter & sprightly modern composition- with flavors of both folk and playful modern classical music about it.

In the world of electronic and experimental music, collaboration or split albums of two projects  are fairly common. Every day a certain number of such albums are released. Some of them, unfortunately, go unnoticed. Others, sorry for this, do not deserve attention. But there is a category of albums that fans of experimental music should pay close attention to.

Spirit Manifestation is the most recent release from Sihir- one of the more recent projects from uber prolific & multiple projects linked French noise maker Julien Skrobek. The self-released C10 tape offers up two side-long tracks, that sit somewhere between textured noise and dense suffocating ambeince- which all very much fits the releases themes ghosts/ supernatural.

The Graveyard is one of the lesser-seen & lesser-known of the hag horror genre, and it’s also one of the most satisfying and twisted. From Cheezy Moives here we have a bare-bones DVD releases of the film- and while the print is far from great, it’s excellent to see this devilish little film back in print once more.

All Out War sees the return of one of the legends of the walled noise scene Philadelphia based Paul Dever- who is behind projects like the mightly and blackly crushing Griz+zlor, the lunar worshiping militant HNW of Cursed Aether, and the more blacked drone tipped work of Dhusk. For this recent double C90 set sees Paul returning under the banner of Blood Eagle- to sever up four sides of bleakly battering walled matter.

When The Walls Talk is a fifty-five-minute documentary that takes us into the (supposable) very haunted rooms and corridors of Whispers Estate, which is located in the small Indiana town of Mitchell. The film blends together interviews with the houses staff, visitors, and paranormal investigators- as well as creepy photos of spirit activity & investigation footage. It’s certainly one of the more densely packed supernatural docs- and for the most part lets you make up your own mind up about both the evidence and the believability of the interviewees. Here on Shami Media Group here’s a region one DVD of the film.

Of all the films in the serial killer genre, Schramm stands as one of the more grimly heady, disorientating, and surreal. The film takes us into the mind of a middle-aged and balding German sexual serial killer, and his last few days on earth. Here from the folks at Arrow Video UK is a new two-disc set of this mid 90’s film-bringing together on the Blu Ray a high definition print, and a new short semi sequel, and few new extras.The second disc is a CD taking in the films sinisterly drab-yet-unbalancing soundtrack- with the  set been topped off with a 60 page book.

God damn-it Vinegar Syndrome have done yet it again- uncovered yet another great & distinctive horror obscurity from the past with the release of Hellmaster- a heady, at times gloriously confusion mixture of deranged Doctor horror, weird monster fed stalk 'n' slash action, with flits of action and subtle horror fed trippy-ness. Here we have a region free duel Blu Ray and DVD release of this 1990’s horror picture- featuring two different cuts of the film- both with directors commentary, the usual great VS print, and a neat bunch of other extras.