Radinace Films has announced its October Blu-ray releases, and there's a strong horror vibe to a delicious-looking collection of titles arriving just in time for Halloween. The titles are: Daiei Gothic, which brings together three Japanese ghost stories from genre masters Misumi Kenji, Tanaka Tokuzo and Yamamoto Satsuo; Dogra Magra (1988), the final film from director Matsumoto Toshio; Benjamin Christensen's silent classic Häxan; and Riccardo Freda's 1957 gothic classic I Vampiri.

DAIEI GOTHIC – JAPANESE GHOST STORIES

Limited Edition Blu-ray | 28 October 2024 | £44.99

A collection of three of Japan's most famous ghost stories that have haunted people for centuries. Misum Kenjii (Lone Wolf and Cub) directs The Ghost of Yotsuya (Tōkaidō Yotsuya kaidan, 1959), in which a woman returns from the grave as a horribly disfigured phantom to torment her husband and his new bride. In The Snow Woman (Kaidan yukijorō, 1968), directed by Tanaka Tokuzō (Zatoichi), a woodcutter must keep his oath to a vengeful female spirit or pay the ultimate price. The Bride from Hades (Botan-dōrō, 1968) by Yamamoto Satsuo (Shinobi) sees a handsome samurai so enchanted by a courtesan's beauty that he fails to realise she is a ghost.

These three film versions from the Daiei studio form a pinnacle of atmospheric Japanese horror. Their elegant visuals and ominous shadows rival the best of Terence Fisher or Mario Bava, while their iconic female ghosts would greatly influence Asian genre cinema, from Hong Kong fantasy spectacles such as A Chinese Ghost Story to J-horror.

LIMITED EDITION BOX SET FEATURES:

• New 4K restorations of The Bride from Hades and The Snow Woman
• High-Definition digital transfer of The Ghost of Yotsuya
• Uncompressed mono PCM audio for each film
• Optional English subtitles for all films
• Newly designed box and booklet artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Six postcards featuring original archive imagery from the films
• Limited edition 80-page perfect bound book featuring new writing by authors Tom Mes, Zack Davisson and Paul Murray, newly translated archival reviews and ghost stories by Lafcadio Hearn
• Limited Edition of 4,000 copies presented in a rigid box with full-height Scanavo cases for each film and removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

THE GHOST OF YOTSUYA:

• New interview with filmmaker Kurosawa Kiyoshi
• A visual essay on the history and adaptations of the classic Ghost of Yotsuya story by author Kyoko Hirano
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista

THE BRIDE FROM HADES:

• Audio commentary by author Jasper Sharp
• New interview with filmmaker Takahashi Hiroshi
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista

THE SNOW WOMAN:

• New interview with filmmaker Ochiai Masayuki
• A visual essay on writer Lafcadio Hearn by Paul Murray
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Filippo Di Battista

DOGRA MAGRA [DOGURA MAGURA] (Japan 1988)

Limited Edition Blu-ray | 28 October 2024 | £17.99

A man wakes in an asylum with no memory. Dr Wakabayashi helps him to recall his past in which he killed his bride on their wedding day. Part of his memory becomes linked to another doctor, Dr Masaki, and a manuscript, Dogra Magra. As the two doctors treat him, reality and fantasy become blurred and the patient becomes unsure of his identity or his doctors' experiments.

The final feature film by Matsumoto Toshio (Funeral Parade of Roses) is an adaptation of the celebrated novel by Kyusaku Yumeno, a period set gothic tale with a sense of dreamy dread that recalls Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure and the locked room mystery of Shutter Island. A stunningly shot phantasmagoria by Suzuki Tatsuo (Pastoral: To Die in the Country), Dogra Magra is presented on Blu-ray here for the first time outside of Japan. 

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:

• High-Definition digital transfer supervised by director of photography Suzuki Tatsuo and producer Shibata Shuji
• Audio commentary by director Matsumoto Toshio (2003)
• Interview with Matsumoto Toshio (2003, 21 mins)
• A visual essay by programmer and curator Julian Ross (2024)
• Instructions on Ahodara Sutra (a popular Japanese chant delivered by Dr. Masaki in the film) by legendary street performer Sakano Hiroshi (16 mins)
• Trailer
• New and improved English subtitles
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Hirofumi Sakamoto, president of the Postwar Japan Moving Image Archive and author Jasper Sharp on screenwriter Yamatoya Atsushi plus an interview with producer Shibata Shuji and Matsumoto's director's statement
• Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

HÄXAN (Sweden / Denmark 1922)

Limited Edition Blu-ray | 28 October 2024 | £22.99

A series of eerie vignettes depict images of sorcery and evil on screen, from representations of occultism and religious hypocrisy to a chilling witch hunt in the Middle Ages. Directed by and starring Benjamin Christensen as the Devil, Häxan mixes documentary and fiction forms to create an unsettling brew that prefigures everything from Gothic horror to the found footage film. This legendary horror film was released in numerous edits and this edition collects four such versions of the film for the first time in the UK, including a 2K restoration by the original production company Svensk Filmindustri.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:

• 2K restoration by Svensk Filmindustri, presented with three optional scores, by Matti Bye (2006), Bronnt Industries Kapital (2007), and Geoff Smith (2007)
• Witchcraft through the Ages – an alternate cut of the film featuring narration by William S. Boroughs and soundtrack by Jean-Luc Ponty (1968, 77 mins)
• Häxan – The Esoteric Cut – an alternate cut of the film featuring English intertitles and soundtrack by Lawrence Leherissey (Date unknown, 84 mins)
• Witchcraft through the Ages – a French version of the film featuring narration by Jean-Pierre Kalfon (1990, 82 mins)
• Introduction by director Benjamin Christensen (1941, 8 mins)
• Outtakes (1922, 12 mins)
• Recently discovered costume screen test (1922, 2 mins)
• Visual essay by Vito A. Rowlands, author of the forthcoming BFI Film Classics edition of Häxan (2024)
• Audio commentary by Guy Adams and A.K. Benedict (2024)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Six postcards of original promotional stills
• Limited edition 80-page book featuring new writing by Pamela Hutchinson, Daniel Bird, Kat Ellinger, Brad Stevens plus archival writing and extracts from the press book
• Limited edition of 6000 copies, presented in rigid box and full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

I VAMPIRI (Italy 1957)

Limited Edition Blu-ray | 28 October 2024 | £17.99

A mad scientist captures young women in Paris and drains them of their blood in service of an evil Duchess. Also known as Lust of the Vampire, Riccardo Freda's I vampiri mixes the Bathory and Frankenstein stories to create its gothic tale, Italy's first horror film. Made as a challenge by Freda at breakneck speed, cinematographer Mario Bava would complete direction and post-production of the film, adding his signature in the process. With its baroque imagery and stunning visuals, I vampiri forged the path for Italian horror and remains a landmark of Italian cinema history.

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:

• 2K restoration of the film presented with Italian and English audio
• Audio commentary by Tim Lucas (2023)
• Thirst of Blood – a featurette on the making of the film with Fabio Melelli, Mario Bava and Dario Michaelis
• Interview with Lamberto Bava
• Interview with Leon Hunt, author of Mario Bava: The Artisan as Italian Horror Auteur (2024)
• Trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring artwork based on original posters
• Booklet featuring new writing by Roberto Curti, author of Italian Gothic Horror Films, 1957-1969
• Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings