Studiocanal has announced two 1950s genre titles for release on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital in January, with popular favourite Horrors of the Black Museum joined by lesser-seen horror-tinged cult science fiction work, Devil Girl From Mars.

HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1959) | Blu-ray | DVD | Digital | 15 January 2024

A new restoration of the 1959 horror film Horrors of the Black Museum is coming to Blu-ray and DVD, and making its UK digital debut. Starring Michael Gough and directed by Arthur Crabtree (Fiend Without a Face), marked the first film in the "Sadian Trilogy", and was followed by the Hammer favourite Circus of Horrors and Michael Powell's infamous Peeping Tom, which introduced cinema audiences to a more shocking and salacious brand of onscreen horror.

A series of grisly, macabre murders sweep London and leave Scotland Yard completely baffled. Bancroft, an evil crime journalist, is hypnotising his assistant to commit murders using items curated in his own personal "Black Museum" - inspired by the infamous real-life collection of weapons and torture instruments used by criminals. Using these murders to fuel his own crime stories, Bancroft delights in the Yard's embarrassment.

This gruesome British horror treat features a splendid lead performance from the estimable Michael Gough (star of horror gems including Trog, Horror Hospital and The Skull), with a cast that also includes Shirley Anne Field (The Damned, Peeping Tom) and June Cunningham (The Small World of Sammy Lee).

Originally shown in the new filmmaking format 'Hypno-Vista' ('It actually puts YOU in the picture – can you stand it?'), Horrors of the Black Museum was a box office hit, and its fans include Martin Scorsese, who got the film inducted to the New York Museum of Modern Art.

BLU-RAY & DVD FEATURES:

• BRAND NEW Interview with novelist and critic Kim Newman
• BRAND NEW Audio Commentary with Kim Newman and writer/editor Steve Jones
• Hypno-Vista Introduction
• Original Trailer B&W
• Lobby Cards Gallery
• Four collector's art cars (Blu-ray only)

DEVIL GIRL FROM MARS (1954) | Blu-ray | DVD | Digital | 15 January 2024

Studiocanal presents a new restoration of the 1954 British black-and-white science fiction film Devil Girl From Mars, directed by David MacDonald and starring Patricia Laffan, Hugh McDermott, Hazel Court, Peter Reynolds and Adrienne Corri.

One winter evening in a lonely Scottish inn, guests become prisoners when Nyah, a pitiless Martian with a robot minion, lands on earth and traps them within an invisible wall. With Martian males extinct after a battle of the sexes, Nyah aims to capture breeding stock on Earth. As escape attempts falter, the helpless humans must decide which one of them will die to save the others and possibly the world!

A famously economical film, Devil Girl From Mars was filmed over three weeks with no retakes in order to use up pre-booked studio time when another project finished ahead of schedule. With a cast including the magnificent Patricia Laffan (Quo Vadis) as Nyah, and genre favourites Adrienne Corri (Vampire Circus), and fifties scream queen Hazel Court (The Masque of the Red Death), the film was shot by Jack E Cox (who filmed Hitchock's The Lady Vanishes and Blackmail), with a score by prolific composer Edwin Astley, the man behind the catchy theme tunes to TV series The Saint and Danger Man.

eaturing the striking female Martian costume designed by Ronald Cobb, and a giant robot running amok, Devil Girl From Mars is a bona fide cult classic that Starburst magazine says "is as iconic as they come".

BLU-RAY & DVD FEATURES:

• BRAND NEW Interview with novelist and critic Kim Newman
• BRAND NEW Audio Commentary with Kim Newman and writer & journalist Barry Forshaw
• Stills gallery
• Four collector's art cars (Blu-ray only)