DVD Releases We Dig This Week (03.05.13)

Some more goodies to be found this week from the ever-surprising Olive Films. Stanley Baker heads a terrific cast in the 1972 spy thriller Innocent Bystanders, directed by the always stylish Peter Collinson. Some more espionage can be had in 1964's The Great Spy Chase, starring Lino Ventura (who was in last week's Olive release of Monsieur Gangster). I saw a bit of this on TFO a few years back and looks pretty wild (the scene I caught featured kung fu!), so this promises to be a neat discovery.

And for the midnight movie fans, there is plenty to rejoice in this week too!  The always amazing Shout! Factory releases the collector's edition of Phantasm II (1988), Don Coscarelli's sequel to his beloved 1979 cult horror, on their subsidiary label Scream Factory, and typically loaded with extras. (Edit: we just found out this has been delayed till March 26.) 

Fred Olen Ray's Retromedia label seems to be back in the DVD world, with the cult horror favourite Grave of the Vampire (1972) featuring William Smith and Michael Pataki. Although this film has long been available in cheap public domain disks, this release however is an anamorphic transfer mastered from a 35mm print! (No news yet on whether this runs longer than the usually trimmed PD versions.) Retromedia also releases the 1989 horror curio, The Jitters, featuring James Hong as a deceased grocer who returns as a vampire to get revenge on the street gang menacing Chinatown. Some sources list these films to street later in the month, however, I've already seen them in locations that usually honour street dates.

More next week!