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Hey everyone! We have one last batch of horror and sci-fi home media releases headed our way before the end of the month, and this week’s offerings are massive, with well over 20 titles coming out on 4K, Blu-ray, and DVD this Tuesday alone.

One of my favorite creature features ever is getting some love in HD finally, with Scream Factory’s 4K release of Lewis Teague’s Alligator (and its sequel is headed to Blu-ray this week as well), and the horror comedy Dead Heat is also getting a 4K upgrade. For all you giallo fans out there, Forgotten Gialli: Volume 3 is being released tomorrow and features three more Italian classics genre fans are going to want to own, and Severin Films is keeping busy with a ton of titles this week too: Bloody Pit of Horror, Black Candles, Night of the Demon, and The Halfway House.

Other titles...

Did these filmmakers have any idea how twisted a picture they were making? It doesn’t matter because this Italo torture orgy has has remained a freakout favorite ever since. Mickey Hargitay likely asked, ‘do you really want me to act this nuts?’ and then fully complied with Massimo Pupillo’s request to burn, stab, choke and roast his mostly female victims in orgasmic glee. It’s all still more than a little disturbing — or screamingly funny depending on one’s orientation. Severin’s Blu-ray sources original printing elements, lending incredible video and audio quality to this artless yet stunning exercise in sex & death insanity. We also recall an interpretation given this gem by Brit film critics. Co-starring Walter Brandi & Luisa Barrato, plus eight willing special guest torture victims.

Bloody Pit of Horror

Blu-ray

Severin Films

1965 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date November 26, 2021 / Il boia scarlatto, The Crimson Executioner / Available...

It’s telling that the first feature-length film to come out of Italy was Dante’s Inferno (1911). Because of course, what else would it be? A silent, 68-minute adaptation of the classic poem that, quite memorably, features Satan munching on the souls of the damned. I suppose you could consider this film a tone-setter for the sort of genre films that would come out in Italy over the next hundred-plus years. The film is violent, demonic, and packed with full-frontal nudity. But most importantly, it was all about Hell.

Now, I know it should go without saying, but Italy is pretty big on that whole Catholicism deal. According to a survey conducted in 2005–2006, 87.8% of Italian citizens considered themselves to be Catholic. It should be no surprise, then, that while religious horror is prevalent in the United States, nobody can quite deliver a satanic panic like the Italians. And in the...

Shock lays some love on and spills some shots from 1965’s Italian trash classic Bloody Pit Of Horror. Italian director Massimo Pupillo helmed more than his share of exploitation product during his peak period in the 1960s, including the Django sorta-sequel Django Kills Softly and the Barbara Steele vehicle Terror Creatures From The Grave. But …

The post Gruesome Galleries: 1965’s Bloody Pit Of Horror appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

We’re back with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes details on a Ghostbusters tank top from Cavity Colors, casting news for The Divine Tragedies, a trailer for the film Rage, Kristian’s impressions of Unidentified, and much more:

A Veil’s Tombs: Tombs was written, directed, and produced by Chad Ackerman. Special effects and makeup effects by Frank Ippolito (SyFy’s Face-Off, Chronicles of Riddick, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Ian Von Cromer.

Tombs stars Christian Ackerman (Zombie), Edwin Peraza (Cow), Chad Ackerman (Male Chicken), Laura Ackerman (Female Chicken), and Tanner Sparks (Rabbit).

———

The Divine Tragedies Casting Details: “The Divine Tragedies, based loosely on the famous Leopold and Loeb murder case, tells the tale of Charles Brubaker (Graham Denman, The Haunting of Whaley House) and his half-brother Thomas Lo Bianco (Jon Kondelik, Airplane Vs. Volcano), who concoct...

10. Poltergeist

Directed by Gil Kenan

Written by David Lindsay-Abaire

USA

Release Date: November 14th

Production recently wrapped on the Poltergeist remake with Gil Kenan (Monster House) in the director’s chair and Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) producing. Little is known as they continue to put the movie together in post-production, but we do have a few details, beginning with the cast which includes Sam Rockwell (Moon), Rosemarie DeWitt and Jared Harris. We are also told that the psychic Angina (played originally by Zelda Rubinstein), isn’t going to be revived for the remake. Instead, they are replacing her character with a team of paranormal experts. Based on a vague plot summary, it sounds like the central plot points of the original movie are intact but other characters are added in, such as Carrigan Burke, a host of a TV show called Haunted House Cleaners, who stands in as the movie’s skeptic.

Euro Horror is a very pleasurable genre in which to be steeped. I am ridiculously proud to be a Euro horror fan in the way that some people follow a football team, or a style of music. This is why I produce so many articles on the genre. Enthusiasm is infectious, and if my article provokes just one reader to buy a copy of The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, my work here at WhatCulture is achieved.

Cannibal Holocaust is maybe one of the top five Euro Cult Horror films, but I have written about it so often, I am not going to bore you again by going over the same old territory. In this article, I have picked some critically acclaimed stalwarts of the Euro Horror genre which will hopefully make an interesting read for you.

Please give your feedback below.

10. Bloody Pit Of Horror (1965)

Directed by Massimo Pupillo,...

Euro Cult cinema probably wouldn’t be all that interesting had it not been populated by the genre queens I have listed below in what I hope is a rather comprehensive overview of the best actresses renowned for their work in this particular area of filmmaking. Each and every one of the actresses gathered here are deliriously beautiful – but beyond that, they all have a strong presence and natural charisma that makes it easy for them to light up the screen.

Of course, mainstream cinema is populated with fine-looking women, but Euro Cult babes have a certain je ne sais quoi. Maybe it is their ready willingness to shed all of their clothes and get down to it at a moment’s notice. Or maybe it’s because they always appear to be entwined in a web of sleaze and depravity. Whatever it is, give me Dagmar Lassander in her...

Considering today is Friday the 13th, I couldn't imagine a more fitting date to serve up a review of Gwar's thirteenth studio album... which also happens to sport thirteen tracks. Battle Maximus marks a major turning point for the Scumdogs of the Universe in nearly three decades of debauchery on Planet Earth: as you probably know, it's the first Gwar album recorded after the passing of lead guitarist Cory Smoot, alias Flattus Maximus, who served as one of the band's core members for years (in fact, he first joined them thirteen years ago... again, that magic number) and a fan favorite. While his supreme talent cannot be replaced, his musical duties have been ably assumed by another skilled axe-man, Brent Purgason of Cannabis Corpse. Brent has also officially been assimilated into the vast Gwar canon, taking on the stage role of Pustulus Maximus (a relative of Flattus, of course...

The intergalactic monsters of rock are about to unleash Battle Maximus, Gwar's much-awaited follow-up to Bloody Pit of Horror and their thirteenth full-length studio album. This will also be the first Gwar album recorded after the passing of long-time guitarist Cory Smoot in late 2011, and is not only titled in honor of Smoot's legendary Gwar persona Flattus Maximus, but also heralds the arrival of the band's new guitarist, Pustulus Maximus (alias Brent Purgason). A concept album depicting Gwar's epic clash with super-villain “Mr. Perfect,” Battle Maximus will feature the following tracks: “Madness at the Core of Time” “Bloodbath” “Nothing Left Alive” “They Swallowed the Sun” “Torture” “Raped at Birth” “I, Bonesnapper” “Mr. Perfect” “Battle Maximus” “Triumph of the Pig Children” “Falling” “Fly Now” Once again seizing the spotlight (along with other things we can't mention here), Gwar overlord Oderus Urungus announced that Battle Maximus “should satisfy even the most hardcore...

Titan Books has released a new edition of Dracula Cha Cha Cha, the third book in the Anno Dracula series. Derek recently had a chance to interview author Kim Newman and learned more about the novel’s Italian horror influences. We also have a status update on the long-awaited fourth book, Johnny Alucard.

Can you tell me a bit about the origin and perhaps any influences of this installment in the series?

After the gruesome, muddy, gloomy carnage of World War One in The Bloody Red Baron, the previous book in the series, I wanted to something more fun, but still serious. The summer of 1959 is personally important to me, since I was born then, and the world of la dolce vita in Rome – the real one and the Fellini film – struck me as an underexplored, interesting area. It also enabled me to play with Italian horror, bringing in giallo,...

Craig here with this week's Take Three: Barbara Steele

Barbara Steele in Federico Fellini's immortal 8 ½

Take One: Black Sunday (1960)

In Mario Bava’s Black Sunday (also known as La maschera del demonio or The Mask of Satan) Steele plays Princess Asa Vajda, a woman put to death by her brother in Moldavia, 1630 only to be resurrected 200 years later as a vampire-witch. Steele also has a second, key role, as local woman Katia Vajda. Princess Asa’s eager to wreak the long-promised revenge upon her descendants – thus proving Sunday is far from a day of rest for the undead. Black Sunday, highly influential and memorable to future horror like Bloody Pit of Horror, Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Sleepy Hollow, features some of Steele’s best work.

That's particularly true in the film's gory opening prologue where she meets her first death. Many horror fans recall with wicked grins this...

What’s at the bottom of a Bloody Pit of Horror? Let’s find out!

Just look at this:

Click to enhuge-ify.

Well, you can’t get more basic than this still!

Jayne Mansfield’s bodybuilder ex-hubby Mickey Hargitay is popping his musculature to put the screws to a luckless Italian actress in his role as The Crimson Executioner (ineffably retitled Bloody Pit of Horror for more discerning Us audiences when it was barely released in 1967). Mansfield was to have co-starred, but the pair divorced before the movie began shooting in 1965.

Hargitay, whose 1957 film debut was with his wife in Frank Tashlin’s Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter, co-starred with Mansfield inThe Loves of Hercules, Promises Promises and Primitive Love. A few spaghetti westerns and Lady Frankenstein didn’t do much for his career, but today a popular nursery called Mickey Hargitay’s Plants still haunts the corner of Fountain and Sycamore Avenues in Hollywood.

With Gwar's 25th anniversary "Slay-a-Bration" going into endless overtime (seriously, it feels like they're gonna be crossing the 27-year line any day now), you'd think they'd kick back and have some coffee and a danish or something... but there's just no stopping the galaxy's most notorious heavy metal mutants, and so they've lined up a short but intense group of venues for their "Bloody Pit of Horror" tour. The band also announced the pending release of some groovy vinyl picture discs for the album Bloody Pit of Horror and its predecessor Lust in Space. Never one to stay quiet – seriously, not Ever – band leader Oderus Urungus oozed forth a new statement to all of humanity, so...

After musically terrorizing the entire planet for over 25 years – an anniversary they just won't stop celebrating, even though it sorta technically ended already – Gwar isn't about to go quietly into the night. Hell, when have the so-called Scumdogs of the Universe done Anything quietly? Nope, the intergalactic mutant miscreants have cranked out a twelfth studio album which just slammed to earth this week, and I had myself a little slice. As you probably already know, it's called Bloody Pit of Horror (a title which the band proudly declares to be stolen from the '60s Italian horror flick), and it's overblown, disgusting, violent and lacking in any form of restraint or good taste. In other words, it's...

With less than a week to go before the unveiling of their new monsterpiece Bloody Pit of Horror, the maggot-gagging metallers of Gwar have let loose yet another blood-soaked musical atrocity from that album. Shortly after the release of their single "Zombies, March!" (and the accompanying Fangoria-produced music video), those delightful Scumdogs have another track for your listening displeasure. Revolver Magazine has posted the band's lurid new tune "Kz Necromancer" on their official site as part of their ongoing "Bootleg Series," and Gwar front-mutant Oderus Urungus spewed some wisdom upon the magazine's pages regarding the band's latest sonic perversion. Gird your loins, hit the jump and learn...

It's amazing how this time of year the late night shows bring out the obscure metal bands, and this year Gwar was tapped by Late Night Jimmy Fallen.

Gwar has always been a great band for horror fans as they dress like monsters and play frighteningly fast metal music.

Performing their new single, "Zombies, March," (watch the new video below) Gwar bassist, Beefcake the Mighty, stated in a press release about this special appearance:

"As disappointed as we are that we must reschedule our attack on St. Louis, we are simply tickled sh*tless that we have been invited to perform on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! One can only assume that our shared insatiable lust for sex and drugs and rock & roll prompted the impish Saturday Night Live alumnus to request we attend his court! Regardless of the reason, we embrace this opportunity to enlist the millions of Late...

I know, it's been at least a day or two since Gwar did something outrageous and disgusting in front of a camera (and I'm not even counting that phone-cam clip someone sent me... you know who you are, sicko), so it's about time for another eyeball-frying visual spectacle from those pan-galactic purveyors of perversity known as Gwar. The new video for their single "Zombies, March!" from the upcoming release Gwar's Bloody Pit of Horror went live on Fangoria.com today, and you can also watch the clip below the jump. But enough talk... flip it and rock! The video for "Zombies, March!" was directed by Fangoria's Dave Kendry, and is exactly what you'd imagine: zombies from all walks of (un)life...

It's no coincidence that the first single from Gwar's forthcoming album Bloody Pit of Horror is entitled Zombies, March! as it's just been announced that Gwar's mighty (and filthy) front-creature Oderus Urungus has been chosen as the Honorary Grand Marshal of the celebrated Toronto Zombie Walk – which returns for its eighth bloody year this month. We've got details on this special appearance below the fold, so read on for more! The Eighth Annual Toronto Zombie Walk will be held this year on Saturday, October 23rd. The event involves all voluntarily zombified (we hope) participants to make a five "Kill-o-meter" walk from Trinity Bellwoods Park to Christie Pits Park in Toronto, Ontario beginning...

Well, we warned you that cosmic monster metallers Gwar were returning with another album, and as that release rapidly approaches we should probably warn you again just to be safe. In the run-up to the release of their "sickest, loudest and nastiest record yet," filthy front-creature Oderus Urungus and his perverted posse have unveiled the cover art and the first single from Bloody Pit of Horror on Bloody-Disgusting.com, as well as further gory details about the Fangoria-produced music video that will soon be accompanying that same track. Ready or not, flip it over and find out more... you know you want this! Bloody-Disgusting just posted the first look at the Bloody Pit of Horror artwork, and were also permitted by Gwar...

Fangoria is proud to announce that we will be working with rock monsters Gwar on their next music video. “Zombies, March!” will be the first clip from the band’s new album, Gwar’S Bloody Pit Of Horror, which will be released by Metal Blade Records November 9. The video will be shot in Richmond, Virginia during September and October; expect to see a finished product by late fall.

It sounds like those mucus-dripping monsters of metal are making good on their threat to unleash another perverse atrocity on a still-unprepared public: Gwar has just announced the official release date of their next full-length studio album Bloody Pit of Horror. The band's hulking front-beast Oderus Urungus presumably put down the crack pipe long enough to issue a little update recently, and after the jump we'll pass those words of wisdom (or something like that) on to you. You're welcome... "This year sees no end to the torment, and delight, we shall heap upon you ungrateful slobs," Oderus declared. "Our new album has got some of the heaviest shit we have ever played, and our show is packed with...