Movies

Roger Corman Classics Find A Home With Shout! Factory

By  · Published on January 14th, 2010

We here at FSR don’t like to make a habit of posting press releases as news items, because they’re basically just free advertisements for the studios or labels behind them. Instead, our job is to pick out the important pieces of information to share with our readers and if at all possible find something extra to make fun of and criticize for laughs. But once in a while news comes along that just makes us me smile a big sloppy grin and want to share it with the rest of the world. (Or even just the three of you reading this.) Some news needs to be celebrated in it’s purest, rawest, press releasest form… like this news right here.

Shout! Factory (a very cool DVD label represented in my Best DVDs of 2009 feature) has joined forces with Roger Corman and his New Horizons Picture Corporation to bring over fifty of his classic and highly entertaining films to DVD and Blu-ray… many for the first time ever. The highlight of the news is in the following details.

Shout! Factory and New Horizons Pictures are working closely to remaster a number of great Corman titles that have been long out of print, some never-before-available on DVD and Blu-ray™. Moreover, Shout! Factory is currently producing a wide range of bonus content for special editions and double features for the launch of Shout! Factory’s Roger Corman’s Cult Classics home entertainment series.

The first titles to be made available from Roger Corman’s Cult Classics presented by Shout! Factory are the much anticipated cult thrillers Piranha Special Edition DVD, Humanoids From The Deep, Up From The Depths and Demon Of Paradise in April 2010; Piranha Special Edition Blu-ray, the memorable 1979 classic Rock ’N’ Roll High School Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray and the punk rock drama Suburbia in May 2010. Other Corman classics slated for 2010 release include Death Race 2000, Warlords Of The 21st Century, Deathsport, Forbidden World and Galaxy Of Terror, among others.”

Ah Piranha… I have a fond memory of watching that one and being suitably disgusted and amazed at the scene with the fat guy who falls in the water and has his big belly “unzipped” by the tiny fish teeth. Good gory fun, and a lesson about the dangers of obesity. And Humanoids From the Deep… blood, boobs, and an all-out assault on a carnival by an army of bipedal turtles. Good stuff. The complete list of films hasn’t been released yet, but you can bet some of your own favorites will be among them so keep an eye out more announcements closer to April.

Visit Shout! Factory’s website for more details.

Which lost Corman classics do you want to see released?

Rob Hunter has been writing for Film School Rejects since before you were born, which is weird seeing as he's so damn young. He's our Chief Film Critic and Associate Editor and lists 'Broadcast News' as his favorite film of all time. Feel free to say hi if you see him on Twitter @FakeRobHunter.