Empire of the Ants (1977)

Eureka are bringing one of writer-producer-director Bert I Gordon’s later (he’d been making them since the 1950s) giant creature features to Blu-ray. This time it’s Joan Collins fighting giant ants, so that's two major 1970s cult movie boxes ticked.

Property developer Marilyn Fryser (Joan Collins) has brought a bunch of prospective investors to an isolated beach location to give them a tour of where she intends to build a new community of luxury residences. However, she has reckoned without some pesky radioactive waste that has washed up on the shore and which the local ant population have, for some reason, found irresistible.

It’s not long before the cast of late 1970s B movie veterans and familiar TV faces (Robert Lansing, Albert Salmi, Robert Pine, Pamela Susan Shoop) are fighting off creatures that have exhibited miraculous powers of growth with the aid of just a few mouthfuls of silver stuff from an oil drum.

Before you ask ‘did H G Wells ever write such daft exploitative fare?’ well no of course he didn’t, but slapping old Herbert George’s name on THE FOOD OF THE GODS had done well for Bert the previous year so presumably doing it again seemed like a good idea, even if the movie is a far cry from its alleged source material. Back in the 1970s there were three ways of doing giant monsters: Ray Harryhausen-style stop motion, giant puppets or normal creatures filmed and blown up really, really big. Bert I Gordon (known as Mr B.I.G in some circles) always tended to go for the third option but there’s some decent puppet work in here too as Joan and the gang get to grapple with things as calculating, malicious and deadly as her own Alexis Carrington from TV’s Dynasty. Perhaps she used it for a few pointers. In fact the story goes that she was so upset at the 'low point' her career had reached with this she decided to radically overhaul things and starred in THE STUD the following year. The rest, off course, is history and, in way, she and her fans have Bert and his giant ants to thank for that. 

Eureka’s transfer is 1080p HD and unsurprisingly looks better than previous DVD releases. Extras include a jolly and affectionate seven minute introduction from Chris Cooke of Nottingham's Mayhem Film Festival which you might want to watch after the feature if you don't want to know too much about it, an 18 minute talking head piece from Kim Newman on the career of Bert I Gordon, and two commentary tracks, one with the director himself where he requires quite a bit of prompting from an interviewer who doesn't really know that right questions to ask, but don't worry because the other from David Del Valle and Michael Varrati is an absolute hoot with its anecdotes and facts you probably don't know including which kinds of flowers Madonna loathes. The limited edition of 2000 copies also comes with an ‘O’ card slipcase and a booklet featuring a new essay on the film, creature features in general and the 1970s in particular.

Bert I Gordon’s EMPIRE OF THE ANTS is out on Blu-ray from Eureka on Monday 22nd June 2026

The House of Hammer: Volume One (2026)

 

        As well as bringing out their own output in 4K editions in lavish box sets, and providing some much-needed releases for some of the other British horror movies made during Hammer’s heyday, the Hammer label is now also venturing into ‘video magazine’ territory. From this initial ‘issue’, The House of Hammer looks as if it promises to be an ongoing series that will collect documentaries, talking head pieces, short films and other bits and pieces that either work better outside of being attached to a formal Blu-ray movie release, or possibly got missed off previous discs, about which more later. This first volume consists of two Blu-ray discs and a 120 page book, along with the usual luxury packaging. So let’s take a look at what we get:

Disc One

The centrepiece (and very much the highlight) of the first disc is the first part of Masques, Monsters and Madmen, what promises to be a lengthy (part one runs 111 minutes) documentary on the history of American International Pictures . Director John Hamilton has assembled quite the collection of experts (including himself) to talk about the company, and these include Jonathan Rigby, Steve Haberman, Chris Alexander, Heidi Honeycutt, Richard Klemensen, Bruce G Hallenbeck and David Pirie. Of course any history of AIP is going to have a major Vincent Price element so its good to see both Vincent’s daughter Victoria and Keeper of the Sacred Flame Peter Fuller in here too. The documentary is divided into three parts: ‘The Drive-In Empire’, ‘Made in Britain’ and ‘The American Invasion’ and covers AIP’s beginnings, their Poe cycle of movies, and there’s welcome emphasis on the relationships between AIP and UK companies Anglo Amalgamated and Tigon. In fact that’s where we cut off this time around, with discussion of WITCHFINDER GENERAL and THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR but the documentary stopping short of THE OBLONG BOX.

Also on disc one is The Land Demands Blood, a 38 minute piece about Cornwall and featuring interviews with film-makers and writers all with Cornish links, including Mark Jenkin (BAIT, ENYS MEN, ROSE OF NEVADA). It’s divided into four parts with part three looking at Hammer’s PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE REPTILE.

Finally for new material we get Off the Leash, a 45 minute piece from Jonathan Rigby looking at the career of Michael Gough. The disc is rounded out with Ticket to Happiness, a 30 minute obscure Hammer short written and directed by Peter Bryan and starring Michael Goodliffe and Charles Lloyd Pack, and a collection of lobby cards from STOLEN FACE that were missed off the 4K release of that film.

Disc Two

Disc two kicks off with a decent thumbnail summary of the history of film censorship both in the US (Chris Alexander, Heidi Honeycutt, John Logan) and the UK (Jonathan Rigby, John Hamilton and David Pirie). Do you know what the ‘X’ stood for in the UK certification? Find out here. That’s followed by Making Monsters, a 39 minute interview with special effects artists Dave and Lou Elsey who have worked on numerous big budget Hollywood projects, often influenced by the classic horrors of old. My favourite story was how they wanted a CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF look to one of the lycanthropes in Joe Johnston’s 2010 THE WOLFMAN.

After that is the highlight of disc two for film music fans as David Huckvale spends 39 minutes looking in some detail at the scores for Harry Robinson’s TWINS OF EVIL and James Bernard’s CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, with some choice bits from THE MUMMY’S SHROUD, THE DEVIL RIDES OUT and THE MUMMY in there, too. 

To tie in with this first issues’s AIP theme there’s the archival Roger Corman at FoFF (37 minutes), recorded in 1995 and featuring Roger providing an introduction to two of his black and white pictures, taking part in a panel that also features Norman J Warren and Robin Hardy, and finally being interviewed by Stephen Laws. 

We finish off with the Q&A panel from the CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN restoration premiere from last year in which surviving star Melvyn Hayes was joined on stage by Kim Newman, Wayne Kinsey, David Pirie and Lucy Bolton. And as a tiny epilogue there’s the UK trailer for QUATERMASS II in which Valentine Dyall urges you to ‘Run!’ in his fruity voice.

The set also includes a 120 page book which wasn’t provided for review but which will apparently contain essays on the making of CRY OF THE BANSHEE, Caralan Productions, and more AIP. Overall, how much this set is going to appeal to the average buyer is difficult to say, because on the downside, and with the absence of any kind of ‘host’ to what is essentially a video magazine, (and with not even some explanation or curation on the menu pages), it could also be described as a collection of Blu-ray extras with no actual film to act as a thematic centrepiece. It’s all absolutely worthwhile stuff but at times it’s hard to shake off the feeling that quite a lot of it was intended to be included as extras on other discs, but there just wasn’t the time or space to do it. That said, the whole thing really is an impressive set of talking head and documentary pieces, and British horror obsessives are going to love it. 

The House of Hammer: Volume One is out in a two disc Blu-ray set from Hammer Films on Monday 15th June 2026

Signal One (2026)

 

“Thoughtful, Well-Made Science Fiction”

SIGNAL ONE, a new and engrossing piece of ‘quiet SF’ is getting a digital HD and DVD release from Signature Entertainment.

Annika (Isabelle Fuhrman from the ORPHAN movies) is a quantum physicist who has made great progress in the analysis of dark matter. She is offered a job by tech billionaire Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) to work for him for a year on a secret project on an isolated island off the coast of Cuba. The twist is she won't know what she's working on until she gets there.

When she arrive she finds herself joined by an electronics wizz (Josh Hutcherson) and they both quickly realise they are there to assist David Thewis’ former alcoholic and drug abusing pioneering astrophysicist. He has built a machine that he believes can communicate with alien life. The two of them are essentially there to iron out a few teething problems which prove to be minor, leaving them to debate the question: should they send the message and thus reveal the earth’s existence to the rest of the universe, or not?

Of course it would be a less interesting film if they didn’t, so rest assure they go ahead, but what happens as a result will provide as much fodder for post-film thought and discussion as whether or not they should have in the first place. 

        SIGNAL ONE is well shot, well acted and, at 87 minutes, doesn’t outstay its welcome. In fact it feels very much like a good old-fashioned television play - more interested in ideas and philosophical concepts than special effects, although the ones we get are absolutely fine. It could therefore could be considered to sit in the same subgenre of speculative SF as Denis Villeneuve’s ARRIVAL. And if you liked that then you’ll certainly want to give SIGNAL ONE a look. Here’s the trailer:

SIGNAL ONE is out on Digital HD and DVD from Signature Entertainment on Monday 15th June 2026

36 Hours 4K (1953)

 

It’s time to dive back into the vaults as Hammer brings us another of their B-movie crime thrillers that most people have never heard of. This time it’s the turn of 36 HOURS aka TERROR STREET, an almost Cornell Woolrich-type tale from author (screenplay and novel) Steve Fisher, to get the 4K UHD and Blu-ray treatment and apparently marks the first time the film has been released on physical media.

Major William Rogers (Dan Duryea) sneaks away from his military posting in the US to find out what has happened to his wife Katie (Elise Albiin), who lives in London and from whom he hasn’t heard in months. He eventually tracks her down and confronts her, only for him to be knocked out. When he regains consciousness she’s dead, he’s holding the gun, and the police are on the way.

The 36 hours of the UK title of this one refer to the time Rogers has before he has to get back to the plane that will return him to his military base so he won’t be registered as AWOL. The film itself is pretty much a perfunctory by the numbers tale of a smuggling scheme. Director Montgomery Tully (THE TERRORNAUTS - not exactly the highest recommendation) stages many of the dialogue scenes in the most workmanlike way possible which, if nothing else, makes this a useful comparison piece to demonstrate just how good directors like Terence Fisher (MANTRAP) and Francis Searle (THE MAN IN BLACK, WHISPERING SMITH HITS LONDON) were at staging this sort of material.

Of course by now everyone should be used to the concept that you’re not buying these packages for the film alone but for the extras, and once again Hammer have outdone themselves. You get two versions of the film - the UK 36 HOURS which comes with a commentary track from experts Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman which is up to their usual standard, and the US TERROR STREET which gets a commentary from US critics Toby Roan and Heath Holland. The US version is only ten seconds shorter than the UK version (both run at close to 85 minutes) and it’s difficult to tell if there are any real differences between the two. Sources have stated that the UK version should be five minutes shorter at 80 minutes but there’s nothing anywhere here about that.

Other extras include a decent 38 minute chat between Vic Pratt and Dr Josephine Botting of the BFI about the neglected genre of British noir of this period, Maxim Jakubowski talking about pulp crime in general and author Steve Fisher in particular (17 minutes), Chris Alexander on Dan Duryea, kicking off with the actor’s contribution to the Twilight Zone (22 minutes), Sergio Angelini discussing the film in relation to other crime pictures of the period (23 minutes) plus the usual trailers, censor card and image galleries. 

You also get two episodes of the radio series Suspense starring Dan Duryea - The Man who Couldn’t Lose (1947) and Remember Me (1952). Both run nearly half an hour. Finally there’s the obligatary book which wasn’t provided for review but which apparently contains articles on the making of the film as well as production paperwork.

36 HOURS is out on 4K in a limited edition UHD and Blu-ray combo set on Monday 15th June 2026

DeepStar Six 4K (1989)

        Studio Canal are releasing director Sean S Cunningham’s underwater monster movie in 4K on UHD, Blu-ray and Digital. It’s a film made in ‘the year of the Sub-genre’ as one of the commentaries cracks on here, when six films with similar subject matter made it into release, including James Cameron’s THE ABYSS and George Pan Cosmatos’ LEVIATHAN. 

Compared with those, DEEPSTAR SIX is at the lower budget end of the spectrum, with a cast of TV standbys (BJ and The Bear’s Greg Evigan, Nancy Everhard from lots of stuff), Ronn Carroll from Cunningham’s original FRIDAY THE 13TH (“Miss - we didn’t find any boy”), Matt McCoy from POLICE ACADEMY 5 & 6 and Miguel Ferrer (ROBOCOP and Twin Peaks and the biggest name of the lot here).

The titular undersea base belongs to the navy, which is looking at the best place to set up some nuclear missiles. The ideal spot turns out to be on top of a cavern so they blow it open and release an enormous prehistoric monster that we get to see in all its glory towards the end of the film.

“The water is as much the monster” says Cunningham in one of the archival extras, probably because it was also quite a bit cheaper, and it does mean that for much of the running time the crew are fighting against flooding and collapsing submersibles rather than fighting the enormous beastie. That said the model work is Gerry Anderson-level quality and therefore very endearing and the monster, when we finally get to see it, is so impressive that it shows up the rather small set it’s supposed to be skulking in.

Studio Canal’s disc comes with an impressive four commentary tracks, the most recent being from podcasters James G Chandler and Ash Hamilton, and the most entertaining being from screenwriters Lewis Abernathy and Geof Miller who both sound “fairly merry”. There’s also a 2001 commentary from Cunningham and visual FX supervisor James Isaac, and a fourth commentary track is a mixture of a 35 minute interview with composer Harry Manfredini and tracks from his music score.

Other extras include a set of interviews with FX men Mark Shostrum, Robert Kurtzman and Greg Nicotero (22 minutes), stars Greg Evigan and Nancy Everhard (17 minutes) and stunt coordinator Kane Hodder (13 minutes) all from 2020. There are also archival extras from 1989 including behind the scenes footage (4 minutes), cast and crew interviews (4 minutes), the 1989 press kit, stills, trailer and TV spots. The disc also comes with four art cards.

Sean S Cunningham’s DEEPSTAR SIX is out on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and Digital on Monday 8th June 2026

Marlowe (1969)

Arrow Films are releasing director Paul Bogart, writer Stirling Silliphant and actor James Garner’s interpretation of Raymond Chandler’s classic detective, updating him to a contemporary (for 1969) setting on Blu-ray. 

Private investigator Philip Marlowe (James Garner) is employed by Orfamay Quest (Sharon Farrell) to find her brother Orrin (Roger Newman). Orrin has disappeared after taking some compromising photographs of top rated sitcom star Mavis Wald (Gayle Hunnicut) in a clinch with gang boss Sonny Steelgrave (H M Wynant). 

The last two people to see Orrin end up murdered with ice picks in their necks, Marlowe is warned to leave the case alone by the promise of a thousand dollars if he does and a serious kicking by Bruce Lee if he doesn’t. The police gets involved, as does Mavis’ exotic dance friend Dolores (Rita Moreno), and as things get even more complicated it becomes obvious to Marlowe that someone, and perhaps everyone, is lying. 

MARLOWE does as good a job at setting Chandler’s private eye in late 1960s LA as Robert Altman’s THE LONG GOODBYE would just a few years later, and James Garner makes for just as good a Marlowe, albeit rather less rumpled. As is often the case with this kind of plot that contains numerous people either being economical with the truth, telling outright lies, or being involved in multiple double crosses, you have to pay close attention to what’s going on, especially the dialogue, at all times. MARLOWE doesn’t waste a minute of its running time with the result that it’s an extremely satisfying example of its type.

Apart from a trailer and image gallery there’s only one extra but it’s a good one, as Howard S Berger goes large on the Marlowe character, beginning with his literary origins and moving through his screen incarnations. What Berger also does, though, is pull in some interesting, and very personal observations and comparisons between Marlowe through the ages and other popular characters in movies at the time, all the way from the Hope and Crosby Road pictures, through Paul Newman’s HARPER to James Bond (in many of his incarnations) and beyond. 

It runs 51 minutes but the time flies by and this is a fascinating piece that will be all the more valuable and informative to those who aren’t perhaps as familiar with the periods in cinema history Berger discusses as some of us are. Arrow’s limited edition Blu-ray also comes with a booklet featuring new writing from Jeff Chang and Priscilla Page, plus a reversible sleeve.

MARLOWE is out on Blu-ray from Arrow on Monday 8th June 2026