1973's "Flesh for Frankenstein" offers writer/director Paul Morrissey an opportunity to play with genre elements and wiggle out of past collaborator Andy Warhol's shadow, turning this take on Mary Shelley's original novel into a slightly campy, mostly sexualized celebration of gore and broad acting. A battle is being waged between seriousness and silliness during the run time, with Morrissey enjoying the messiness of it all, looking to provoke viewers with a presentation of artful madness that's incredibly well-constructed, with outstanding technical achievements helping to support unsteady storytelling and performances. It doesn't always connect, but "Flesh for Frankenstein" is certainly memorable. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director John Wintergate had a dream, looking to join the horror movie gold rush of the early 1980s with his own take on bodily destruction. The problem was, Wintergate didn't have money for film, electing to use video equipment instead, taking advantage of new leaps in technology. The result is 1983's "Boardinghouse," which has branded itself the first theatrical feature to be shot on video and released on 35mm, hoping to give audiences a decidedly muddy looking ride into the powers of telekinesis and the "Amityville Horror"-ish activity of a cursed house hungry for new victims to slaughter. Wintergate has all the ambition in the world, even starring in the endeavor, alongside his wife, Kalassu, but his aspiration doesn't translate to a riveting effort filled with style and cleverness. "Boardinghouse" is junky and often irritatingly random, with Wintergate trying to make sense of his own footage at times, putting his faith in creepy events and bloodshed to help viewers work through often incomprehensible creative decisions. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Quentin Dupieux was recently seen on American screens with "Deerskin," his ode to strange masculinity, insanity, and filmmaking. It was another creative success for the helmer, who enjoys the playfulness of absurdity, asking viewers to hang tight as he creates unusual dark comedies with deliberate pacing and plenty of surprises. Produced before "Deerskin," "Keep an Eye Out" is a Dupieux offering finally making its way to the U.S., giving fans a chance to catch up with the creator's oeuvre as he pursues a consistent moviemaking rhythm (his latest, "Mandibles," was released in the U.S. last summer). "Keep an Eye Out" is perhaps his most contained endeavor, largely taking place inside a police station, but it retains all the delightful mischief Dupieux is known for. He masterminds an especially long night of interrogation for a cop and a suspect, working with a limited space and budget superbly, conjuring a fascinating game of panic that triggers big laughs and a few gasps along the way. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

My first exposure to the ways of W.A.V.E. Productions was found in "Mail Order Murder," a documentary detailing the artistic vision of a company dedicated to the creation of extreme fetish videos for fans who often submitted their own requests, specifying their turn-ons. It wasn't cutesy stuff either, with the videos often including hardcore violence against women, feeding imaginations best left starved. "Mail Order Murder" was an eye- opening viewing experience and a well-done documentary, but now W.A.V.E. releases are coming to Blu-ray, with 1994's "Sorority Slaughter" testing the waters to see if VHS-shot obsessions from nearly 30 years ago can find an audience today. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

With "The Fred Halsted Collection," Altered Innocence strives to bring the deep cult appeal of the filmmaker to a wider audience. It's a noble endeavor, distributing three shorts from the helmer, including "L.A. Plays Itself" (55:17), "Sextool" (61:06), and "The Sex Garage" (35:09), with each of the offerings highlighting Halstead's interest in experimental imagery and hardcore scenarios, working to bring a level of artfulness to underground cinema while preserving his fascination with titillation. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director Potsy Ponciroli has a specific western tale to share with "Old Henry" that's wrapped in layers of enigmatic behaviors and obscured personal history. The story concerns a farmer in a precarious situation with a trio of outsiders, and it lines up perfectly with classic cowboy tales of outlaws and lawmen, and seems tailor-made for an aging Clint Eastwood, as it plays to the icon's sense of stillness and ways with glaring. However, Eastwood wasn't recruited for the part, finding Tim Blake Nelson claiming the role of an aging father fighting the ways of his past. Nelson's already played his fair share of southern characters. In fact, that's pretty much all the Oklahoma native plays, but he's skilled at bringing these personalities to life, and "Old Henry" fits the star like a glove. Nelson is exceptional here, bringing pure grit to the production, helping to escalate a slow-burn endeavor from Ponciroli. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

The early 1990s brought the work of writer/director Mel Brooks to a new audience, and the audience wasn't exactly thrilled to see Mel Brooks. There was 1991's "Life Stinks," which was entirely sold as a Mel Brooks experience, dying a quick death at the box office. And his return to parody cinema, 1993's "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," managed to collect cult appreciation over time, but not initial multiplex interest. 1995's "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" was intended to be Brooks's grand return to the pantsing of horror movies, connected to 1974's "Young Frankenstein," one of his highest grossing endeavors and most beloved creative efforts. It was an uphill battle for the helmer, who attempts to have fun with vampire fever conjured by Francis Ford Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and the endurance of the 1931 Bela Lugosi chiller, adding his increasingly tired Brooks-isms along the way. "Dracula: Dead and Loving It" might've been more energized if it was produced in the 1970s, but over two decades after "Young Frankenstein," the whole thing just lays there on the screen, fighting for funny business that never arrives. The Brooks touch is gone from this one, though he certainly tries to revive long dormant genre magic. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Charlton Heston portraying an aging NFL quarterback is pretty fantastic casting, with the intense actor a perfect fit for a hotheaded character getting too old for the game. Heston is terrific in 1969's "Number One," which offers him an interesting dramatic challenge, tasked with bringing to life a fairly unpleasant human being going through a universal psychological experience, portraying a football hero facing the end of his career, his marriage, and possibly his male appeal. The screenplay (by David Moessinger) tries to work into the folds of such self-esteem issues, and director Tom Gries doesn't avoid a few painful behavioral realities involved in this position of doubt. "Number One" could use a tighter edit, but it offers some interesting ideas on denial and fear, with Heston trying to give the part some real grittiness while fighting a few melodramatic elements in the material. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Writer/director William Malone was ordered to create a knock-off of "Alien" with 1985's "Creature," and that's exactly what he delivers with the horror picture. However, he's not permitted a sizable budget, going the Roger Corman route of tight spaces and limited locations with the endeavor. Malone doesn't have the resources to generate something extraordinary, but he manages to manufacture a reasonably compelling monster movie with "Creature," which provides impressive set design and performances for such a small-scale production. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Dario Argento delivered fantastic horror and mystery movies in the 1970s and '80s, but the 1990s were tough on the director. 1993's "Trauma" is arguably where his creative decline began, trying to get something disturbing going with a chiller concerning a black gloved killer using a garroting machine to help collect heads for a mysterious reason, co-writing a screenplay that's searching for ways to be an odd whodunit. There's a large number of ideas and different tones swirling around "Trauma," but Argento's instincts aren't sharp this time around, coming off unsure with what he wants to do with the endeavor, which has the capacity to be unspeakably brutal or uncomfortably romantic, but remains mostly muddled. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

1991's "Steel and Lace" hopes to offer a more dramatic side to exploitation entertainment, mixing some serious emotion with the pure thrill of revenge cinema. It's an uneven blend of the real and unreal, but director Ernest Farino doesn't blink when it comes to the wilder aspects of the journey, making sure scenes of comeuppance register with full bloodshed. "Steel and Lace" deals with some intense situations concerning sexual assault and the failure of the justice system, offering just enough texture to help the production get past cheap thrills, elevating the material beyond simplistic acts of bodily harm. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com

Billy Blanks is perhaps best known as the creator of Tae Bo, a workout program that became a staple of infomercial programming throughout the 1990s. Blanks made a fortune in the business, but he also wanted to be a movie star, offering his martial arts skills to writer/director T.J. Scott. The result was 1993's "TC 2000," which positioned Blanks as the big new thing on the action cinema scene, using his physical presence to keep up with Scott's refreshingly berserk pacing, which has some form of fighting or chasing happening every few minutes in the film. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com