Upcoming DVD News

Some notes on upcoming DVD releases:

Warner Brothers is releasing 12 cult classics on DVD in four themed sets of three (also available individually). This appears to be their version of MGM's Midnite Movies line. The Sci-fi set is OK. The historical epics set is good. It might be a must-buy, but I hoped that there would be more Greco-Roman sword-and-sandal movies like Colossus of Rhodes. The real gem is the Terrorized Travellers set which includes Hot Rods to Hell, the Charlton Heston disaster film Skyjacked, and... Zero Hour! On DVD at last!

A word of explanation: This is the '50s movie that inspired Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers to create the immortal comedy Airplane! They purchased the rights to ZH! and many of the lines in Airplane! are from it. Ever since I learned about ZH! in the late Eighties I've been trying to see it. ZH! popped up on cable TV once or twice around that time but I never caught it and it never saw a home video release. It's been on my Most Wanted DVDs list since the beginning and I'm very excited about finally having a copy. There was talk early on that it would show up as an extra on the DVD of Airplane! (both of them), but that didn't happen.

So far the only listed extra is the trailer, which is a shame. WB is missing a golden opportunity to get some perspective from the ZAZ team, either in a commentary track or a mini-documentary... something. I should be grateful they are releasing it from the vault, I suppose.

WB's Cult Camp Classics are due on June 26th.

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Classic Media postponed their release of Godzilla Raids Again and Mothra vs. Godzilla from Nov. '06 to April 3rd.

The next two in the series are Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of Astro-Monster (G vs. Monster Zero), two of my faves. These are on the schedule for June 5th. If you've seen their disc of the original Gojira, you know what to expect. I'm still amazed, considering Toho's history of video releases in the US. Original Japanese versions and the original AIP English dubs we grew up with. These are true gems that any self-respecting monster fan will want to check out.

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Media Blasters keeps up the good work on their kaiju film offerings by releasing Frankenstein Conquers the World on June 26th. Like the Classic Media/Toho releases, this is a 2-disc set with Japanese and English versions -- again, the AIP theatrical release.

I'll pick it up, but the one I'm really waiting for is their release of Latitude Zero. It's still in production so there isn't a release date yet. Scratch another off my Most Wanted list...

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June is going to be an expensive month. : (