This May, Inicator will be releasing of not just one, but two landmark box sets. The first, Mexico Macabre: Four Sinister Tales from the Alameda Films Vault 1959-1963, showcases a quartet of all-time horror classics from Mexico. The second – produced by Powerhouse Films in association with byNWR – is titled From Hollywood to Heaven: The Lost and Saved Films of the Ormond Family, focuses on the extraordinary career of a truly unique American filmmaking family.
MEXICO MACABRE: FOUR SINISTER TALES FROM THE ALAMEDA FILMS VAULT, 1959–1963
Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set | 29 May 2023 | £42.99
- BLACK PIT OF DR. M (Fernando Méndez, 1959)
- THE WITCH’S MIRROR (Chano Urueta, 1961)
- THE BRAINIAC (Chano Urueta, 1962)
- THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN (Rafael Baladón, 1963)
These four macabre titles from the vaults of one of Mexico’s best-known film companies offer uniquely Mexican takes on the ghosts, witches, and monsters familiar to fans of horror cinema and fiction.
Fernando Méndez’s Black Pit of Dr. M (Misterios de ultratumba) sees a doctor make a pact with his dying colleague in order to learn the secrets of the afterlife. In Chano Urueta’s The Witch’s Mirror (El espejo de la bruja), a murderer is tormented by the ghost of his dead wife, whilst in Urueta’s The Brainiac (El barón del terror), a nobleman executed for necromancy returns in diabolical form to eradicate the lineage of his killers... by sucking out their brains! Finally, in Rafael Baledón’s The Curse of the Crying Woman (La maldición de la Llorona), a young bride visits her aunt's Gothic mansion, where she finds that she is the descendent of one of Mexican folklore's most terrifying figures.
With their star-studded casts, beautiful photography, eerie production design, and bone-chilling atmosphere, these films have terrified audiences for decades, and are now available in this strictly limited, individually numbered Blu-ray box set, which includes an array of new extra features – including four new audio commentaries, and rare English-language dub tracks – as well as a set of art cards and a fully illustrated 100-page book.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX SET FEATURES:
- High Definition remasters for Black Pit for Dr. M, The Witch’s Mirror, The Brainiac, and The Curse of the Crying Woman
- Original Spanish mono audio
- Optional English mono audio dub tracks for The Witch’s Mirror, The Brainiac and The Curse of the Crying Woman
- Audio commentary with Abraham Castillo Flores, film programmer and curator specialising in the preservation of Mexican horror cinema, on Black Pit of Dr. M (2023)
- Audio commentary with David Wilt, film historian and Mexican-cinema specialist, on The Witch’s Mirror (2023)
- Audio commentary and brain nibbling with Keith J Rainville, publisher of From Parts Unknown and screenwriter of Los campeones de la lucha libre, on The Brainiac (2023)
- Audio commentary with Morena de Fuego, doctor in film studies and LatAm horror specialist, on The Curse of the Crying Woman (2023)
- Daniel Ripstein on the history of Alameda Films and his grandfather, producer Alfredo Ripstein Jr (2023)
- Author Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro on director Fernando Méndez (2023)
- Author Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro on director Chano Urueta (2023)
- Author Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro on director Rafael Balédon (2023)
- Memories of a Villain (2018): TV UNAM special on actor Carlos López Moctezuma
- Mondo Macabro: ‘Mexican Horror Movies’ (2002): episode of Pete Tombs and Andy Starke’s fondly remembered British television series, providing an overview of Mexican genre cinema from the 1950s to the 1970s
- Original theatrical trailers
- Image galleries: promotional and publicity material
- New and improved English translation subtitles
- Limited Edition exclusive 100-page book with new essays by José Luis Ortega Torres, David Wilt and Abraham Castillo Flores, archival articles, and full film credits
- Limited Edition exclusive art cards
- World premieres on Blu-ray
- Limited edition box set of 6,000 numbered units for the UK and US
All extras subject to change
FROM HOLLYWOOD TO HEAVEN: THE LOST AND SAVED FILMS OF THE ORMOND FAMILY
Limited Edition Blu-ray Box Set (World Blu-ray premieres) | 29 May 2023 | £49.99
Presented by Nicolas Winding Refn, From Hollywood to Heaven tells the extraordinary story of a truly unique American filmmaking family.
For almost half a century, June, Ron and Tim Ormond, a Nashville mother-father-son trio, cranked out a wild bunch of movies, from Lash LaRue westerns to the stripper-gore-musical outrage The Exotic Ones, and plunged into every area of showbiz. What’s more, they did it all on a shoestring, totally independently, with no studio to back them.
At the height of their frenzied career, Ron and June experienced a spiritual awakening when their private plane crashed on the way to a premiere. From then on, they turned their back on secular show business to produce a series of shocking, surreal religious pictures, including an unbelievable trio of films for Mississippi Baptist preacher Estus Pirkle – films such as The Burning Hell, which made millions, despite never being shown in an actual movie theatre.
Produced by Powerhouse Films in association with byNWR, and released to coincide with FAB Press’ publication of forensic biographer Jimmy McDonough’s awe-inspiring tome on the extraordinary life and work of the Ormond Family, this strictly limited, individually numbered Blu-ray box set contains thirteen feature films, a host of new and archival extra features – including five new audio commentaries and a collection of rarely seen short films – as well as a set of art cards and a fully illustrated 100-page book, newly written by McDonough.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX SET FEATURES:
- New 2K restorations of If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do?, The Burning Hell, and The Believer’s Heaven from original duplicate negatives
- New 2K restoration of 39 Stripes from the only known surviving 16mm print
- New 2K restorations of It’s About The Second Coming from best-quality, surviving 16mm print elements
- Newly remastered presentations of Untamed Mistress, Please Don’t Touch Me, White Lightnin’ Road, The Girl from Tobacco Row, Forty Acre Feud, and The Exotic Ones from rare surviving Standard Definition master tapes
- Standard Definition presentations of The Grim Reaper and The Sacred Symbol, mastered from best-available sources
- Original mono audio
- Audio commentary with author and Ormond biographer Jimmy McDonough on Please Don’t Touch Me (2023)
- Audio commentary with McDonough and actress, exotic dancer, fire eater, and carny queen Georgette Dante on The Exotic Ones (2023)
- Audio commentary with documentarian Brian Rosenquist and Greg Pirkle, son of Baptist minister and Ormond collaborator Estus Pirkle, on If Footmen Tire You What Will Horses Do? (2023)
- Audio commentary with McDonough, filmmaker Tim Ormond, and film restorationist Peter Conheim on The Burning Hell (2023)
- Audio commentary with McDonough and Ormond on It’s About The Second Coming (2023)
- Estus W Pirkle Sermon (1970, 64 mins): rare and previously unreleased archival audio recording
- Edge of Tomorrow (1961, 50 mins): June and Ron Ormond’s lost portrait of UFO huckster Reinhold O Schmidt, presented from a rare VHS source
- A Tribute to Houdini (1987, 60 mins): directed by Tim Ormond, and featuring John Calvert performing an array of tricks inspired by celebrated escape artist and magician Harry Houdini
- Lash LaRue: A Man and His Memories(1992, 70 mins): Tim Ormond’s rarely seen documentary in which the beloved western star reflects upon his life and work
- June Carr: The Virtual Vaudevillian (1997, 30 mins): Tim Ormond’s loving portrait of his mother and collaborator, June Carr Ormond
- Forgotten Memories (1997, 20 mins): Tim Ormond’s short drama starring June Ormond in which two women meet under extraordinary circumstances
- Original theatrical trailer for White Lightnin’ Road
- Radio spots
- New English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Limited Edition exclusive 100-page book with an extended essay by Jimmy McDonough, Peter Conheim on the restorations, and full film credits
- Limited Edition exclusive art cards
- World premieres on Blu-ray
- Limited edition box set of 6,000 numbered units for the UK and US
All extras subject to change
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