THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2: GHOSTS OF GEORGIA

Laserblast 4-15.2: Antiviral, Ghosts of Georgia, Twins of Evil

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Steve Biodrowski

This week’s Laserblast Home Video podcast features a review of ANTIVIRAL, the new science-fiction-horror film from Brandon Cronenberg (son of David), which made its Video on Demand debut simultaneously with its limited theatrical release on Friday, April 12. Also featured this week are reviews of THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2: GHOSTS OF GEORGIA (now for sale on Blu-ray and DVD, two months after its own simultaneous theatrical-VOD release) and of TWINS OF EVIL (available as a wonderful Blu-ray-DVD combo pack from Synapse Films).
We round out the week with a rundown of horror, fantasy, and science fiction titles coming to home video on Tuesday, April 16, plus a roundup of overlooked recent releases.
This week’s releases include:

Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray of Alex Cox’s 1984 cult gem, REPO MAN
A MONSTER IN PARIS: a French computer-animated 3D musical, from the director of A SHARK’S TALE, with a story loosely inspired by THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (a beast in love with a beautiful singer). The film is available on DVD and in a a multi-disc pack including 3D Blu-ray.

Previous releases include:

THE LAST JAWS on April 9. This is a DVD-R, manufacture on demand by Amazon.com, which previously made the film available under the title THE LAST SHARK (L’Ultimo Squalo) back in 2011. The new DVD is $12.99 – $7.00 less than its predecessor – but the DVD-R format suggests the disc would be made from available materials, not a restored print. For that price, you would be better off watching the film through Amazon’s Instant Viewing service for $1.99. As you might have guessed, this is an Italian rip-off of JAWS, which was released in the U.S. as GREAT WHITE – before Universal Pictures sued and got the film yanked from release. Long unavailable, the film offers a few psychotronic joys (e.g., the ridiculously massive 35-foot shark pulling a helicopter out of the sky) that make it a hoot to watch.
JOHN DIES AT THE END: now available on DVD and Blu-ray, having made a simultaneous theatrical-VOD debut a couple months ago.
PHANTASM 2: Don Coscarelli’s 1988 follow-up to PHANTASM, in a new collector’s edition Blu-ray from Shout Factory
FROM BEYOND: Stuart Gordon’s follow-up to REANIMATOR, in a new DVD-Blu-ray combo pack from Shout Factor.

You can find these and other home video release in the Cinefantastique Online Store. You can watch ANTIVIRAL here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

[serialposts]

Sense of Wonder: The Ghosts of Georgia may be haunting Connecticut but not Los Angeles

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Steve Biodrowski

Wow, they really rolled out the red carpet on THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2: GHOSTS OF GEORGIA, which supposedly opens in theatres today: the closest location to me is in Ontario. Well – Ontario, California rather than Ontario, Canada, but still. It turns out that the film is simultaneously available for streaming on Amazon. Didn’t anyone tell the distributors: the Video on Demand release for films that no one wants to see on the big screen is, traditionally, three weeks before theatrical?

The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia in theatres & on demand February 1

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Steve Biodrowski

Lionsgate releases this production from Gold Circle Films, a sequel to 2009’s THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT. Tom Elkins ( who edited the first film) takes to the director’s chair, working from a screenplay by David Coggeshall. The cast includes Katee Sackhoff (BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA), Chad Michael Murray (HOUSE OF WAX), Abigail Spencer, and Cicely Tyson.
According to the press release, THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT 2: GHOSTS OF GEORGIA “traces a young family’s nightmarish descent into a centuries-old Southern hell. When Andy Wyrick (Murray) moves his wife Lisa (Spencer) and daughter Heidi to an historic home in Georgia, they quickly discover they are not the house’s only inhabitants. Joined by Lisa’s free-spirited sister, Joyce (Sackhoff), the family soon comes face-to-face with a bone-chilling mystery born of a deranged desire…a haunting secret rising from underground and threatening to bring down anyone in its path.”
By the way, we will assume that the film’s claim to be “based on a true story” is a reference to the back story regarding the Underground Railroad (which helped escaped slave get to the northern states before and during the Civil War).
The film opens on February 1, putting it in direct competition with WARM BODIES.