From my Cinema Arcana FB Page: “The dream you can’t escape alive!” Coming later this year as part of Massacre Video’s Limited Edition Blu-Ray series – an officially licensed, exclusive restoration of Romano Scavolini’s notorious nasty, NIGHTMARES IN A DAMAGED BRAIN (1981)! Prematurely released from psychiatric care, George Tatum aimlessly wanders the sleaze pits of New York’s 42nd Street, unsure of a greater purpose. However, his experimental drugs only manage to keep his vivid hallucinations and nightmares at bay for a short time, and it isn’t long before he’s embarking on a southbound slaughter spree, feeling himself drawn to a sunny seaside destination only he knows. An oppressive, relentlessly bleak film, NIGHTMARE (as it’s better known to Stateside fans) has amassed a bit of a following over the years thanks to its mean-spirited seriousness and nihilistic worldview. Generally considered a slasher film, it’s more of a psychotic character study – more akin to DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE or MANIAC than FRIDAY THE 13th. However, one potential connection to the latter is its gloriously graphic gore FX – their hotly-contested perpetrator is still in debate. (Ed French or Tom Savini? Will we ever get the full story?) Regardless, the disturbing scenes of violence were enough to land the film on England’s notorious Video Nasties list, and its distributor actually wound up doing time behind bars! Previous disc releases have utilized a worn 35mm release print or an uncorrected answer print, but thanks to some hard work and determination, an original internegative has recently been uncovered, and Massacre are using this preferable element as the source for their 2K restoration. With color correction by the same technicians responsible for their stunning HACK-O-LANTERN release, this should easily be the best NIGHTMARE has ever looked. While extras are currently being worked on, one supplement guaranteed to tempt even those who don’t generally double-dip is the inclusion of Scavolini’s directorial follow-up, the gritty ‘Namsploitation outing DOG TAGS (1987)! Unreleased on disc previously and never officially issued on home video in the U.S., the film follows a group of soldiers who discover the secret mission they’ve reluctantly been assigned is actually the recovery of stolen gold. With said riches at their fingertips, temptation proves too much and greed breeds paranoia – but can they even make it out of the jungle alive? A mean slab of celluloid, DOG TAGS is especially remembered for an agonizing amputation scene and another starring role for NIGHTMARE’s Baird Stafford, so its appearance here is particularly welcome. Massacre Video is accessing the original 35mm negative for their scan, so you might as well throw away those bootlegs now! Obviously another mouth-watering addition to an already impressive slate of upcoming releases from Massacre Video. Watch this space for further details! © Bruce Holecheck, 2018
Code Red is re-releasing his disc wide retail thru Kino on July 17th. So he's probably aware, and that's his response. Try to saturate the market. Hack-O-Lantern looked gorgeous. I'm game to pick up the Massacre disc.
I was about to pick up the new Kino Blu, but as I care deeply about the presentation for this, one of my favourites, I'll wait for a comparison. I am sure Massacre will again provide another great slip for this release.
It's always great to hear when original elements are located. I can't wait to see how this disc compares to past editions. I hope that the audio won't be lossy like Hack-O-Lantern though as that would be a step down from the Code Red disc.
i don't like the film itself well enough to doubledip (i have the 88 Films disc and for me, it's enough) but the inclusion of a second film might be tempting me
