Guest Author - Andy Boxall

With 2007 well underway, what does the horror fan have to look forward to on DVD? Well, number one for me is a guilty pleasure, as MGM is set to release Night of the Comet on the 6th March. While this 1984 zombie/sci-fi/horror will never win any awards, the dream of being the only man left on earth with Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney is an enjoyable one! If you have never seen Night of the Comet, I heartily recommend it to fans of the above or anyone who likes 80s hairstyles.

Blue Underground have been quiet on the release front of late, however sci-fi fans would be advised to pick up their excellent edition of The Final Countdown, but rumours on the Internet suggest they are planning some interesting re-releases around February and March. Titles include Maniac (which should be uncut and saves me the issue of paying a fortune for Anchor Bay’s limited edition tin set), Autopsy, City of the Living Dead, Deep Red, Inferno, Don’t Torture a Duckling and Shock. I for one will be picking several of these up.

Dark Sky Films have confirmed Prayer Beads, Kill, Baby, Kill and Jess Franco’s Count Dracula on their website, all of which should be impressive thanks to Dark Sky’s commitment to their releases, however the once fabulous Anchor Bay seem to have little to be excited about. A planned re-release of Re-Animator is on the cards, but I fail to see exactly how much can be improved upon the superb Elite Millennium edition, plus another release of Phantasm. Having purchased the Region 1 MGM Special Edition and the Region 2 Orb set with all four movies in it, this new release would have to be astounding to make me pay again.

Anchor Bay’s only saving grace is their Master’s of Horror series. February sees the Region 2 release of Season 1, Part 2 and Region 1 should be getting Season 2 releases as you are reading this. Back at the rumour mill, the 25th Anniversary of Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist is due this year and Warner has promised a 2-disc edition to celebrate, however no date has been confirmed.

Released at the end of 2006 was Synapse’s new special edition of William Lustig’s Maniac Cop. Starring Bruce Campbell and Shaft himself, Richard Roundtree, anyone who missed the age-old Elite Entertaiment edition should order this gem, which only just slots into the horror genre, preferring to sit in the action camp for the most part. Hopefully Synapse will continue the recent run of top-notch releases!

As we are barely two weeks into the New Year, doubtless there will be many other exciting DVD releases announced for the coming year soon!