Roger Corman on Blu-ray

[The Great Owl]

Here is a list of Roger Corman's U.S. releases on Blu-ray...

U.S. Blu-rays of Films directed by Roger Corman







*(The three Vincent Price collections feature a handful of films directed by Corman: House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Haunted Palace, The Raven, Tower of London)
*(The Wasp Woman was directed/produced by Roger Corman, while Beast from Haunted Cave was produced by Corman.)


U.S. Blu-rays of Films produced by Roger Corman















*(Roger Corman produced the first House film, but not House II, in the House: Two Stories box set above.)
*(Roger Corman produced The Dunwich Horror in the Scream double feature set.)
*(The Wasp Woman was directed/produced by Roger Corman, while Beast from Haunted Cave was produced by Corman.)
*(There are multiple editions of the 2008 remake of Death Race 2000 available on Blu-ray, so explore the site to find your favorite.)



U.S. Blu-rays of Films distributed by Roger Corman






* (The Nest was produced primarily by Julie Corman, and released by Corman's production company.)



U.S. Blu-rays of Films with Roger Corman in the Cast





*(Multiple Blu-ray editions exist for The Silence of the Lambs, Apollo 13, and others.)


Roger Corman Steelbooks

[The Great Owl]

This is a work in progress. The Blu-rays are listed roughly in the order that they appear by the classification numbers on this site, as opposed to production year, but the movies should all be pretty easy to find.

I got a bit lazy at the end, and decided not to list all dozen editions of Apollo 13 or The Silence of the Lambs, but you can find the best or least expensive editions of those by exploring the site.

Free free to let me know if anything is missing.

[The Great Owl]

I do not own all of the above Blu-rays in my collection.
(There are a few titles that even the Owl won't touch just yet.)

I do own most of them, though, and I been wanting to see a Roger Corman thread for a while now, because I love his 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s output.

If you have a question about any of the titles, then feel free to ask.

[NoirFan]

Thanks for the thread. Here is one you missed (though only Wasp Woman was directed/produced by Roger Corman, Beast was directed by Monte Hellman, produced by Gene Corman, and executive produced by Roger):





(Also, if the OP gets too big/unwieldy down the line, you could consider changing the cover art size to medium later, as I did with the above disc.)


Finally, are there any differences between the three editions of Death Race you included?

[El_Fez]

If you're looking to go overseas, Roger was interviewed (and discussed) pretty extensively in Machete Maidens Unleashed:

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Finally, are there any differences between the three editions of Death Race you included?

Nope. I could probably pick one of the three to eliminate confusion, as I did with a few of the titles in the Cast portion of the post.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by El_Fez

If you're looking to go overseas, Roger was interviewed (and discussed) pretty extensively in Machete Maidens Unleashed:

For now, I'm limiting the main post to Region A playable discs, but I'd love to see discussion in the thread of foreign titles.

[The Great Owl]

If any of you would like an introduction to Roger Corman's extensive legacy, then I highly recommend this documentary film...



My review from a few days ago...

I've been a fan of Roger Corman's productions since childhood, when I used to see Piranha, Death Race 2000, Battle Beyond the Stars, and Galaxy of Terror on network television. When I grew older, I delved into his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations which starred Vincent Price, and I also discovered more of his glorious 1970s exploitation movies, especially the women's prison movies which starred Pam Grier. Corman's productions were instrumental in launching the careers of the likes of Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, Ron Howard, and a great many others, and it's awesome to go back and see those early flicks where these giants of cinema cut their teeth.

This 2011 documentary about Corman's career is a joy to watch, because it not only includes generous footage from his hundreds of films, but also present-day interviews from Nicholson, Scorsese, Demme, Dante, Howard, and so many others, all of whom are grateful to the producer/director for putting them through unofficial "film school", so to speak, on the art of making fun movies at a minimum of expense and a maximum of profit. Even if you are not a movie geek like I am, you will likely find this film extremely engaging and infectious in its spirit.

[The Great Owl]

A few other various reviews that I wrote for the Roger Corman's Cult Classics films...




P.J. Soles, Dey Young, and the Ramones use rock 'n' roll music to save a high school from the tyrannies of education and responsibility. If you're a Ramones fan like me, then you'll really enjoy their performances of several classic tracks, namely "Blitzkrieg Bop", "Pinhead", "California Sun", "Teenage Lobotomy", and, of course, the title song for the film. Directors Allan Arkush and Joe Dante keep the movie's antics in focus even during the iconic band performances, so that it does not simply segue into an extended concert. Since Rock 'N' Roll High School is a Roger Corman production, several Corman mainstays are featured in the cast, including Mary Woronov as the evil high school principal, Paul Bartel as a stuffy music teacher who gradually succumbs to the brilliance of the Ramones, and Dick Miller as a police chief. The Ramones themselves are not the greatest actors, but that's part of the wondrous charm of this awesome awesome movie.




I'm glad to say that Piranha, one of my favorite movies from childhood, is now even better. It's not a flawless high definition transfer, but it's pretty impressive for the source material. I've said this before when discussing other such genre movies, but I'm just glad that somebody cared enough about this one to give it a decent Blu-ray release. Roger Corman produced Piranha by taking cues from the success of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, and, although this film lacks that certain finesse, it's one that I've probably revisited just as often over the decades as I've revisited the Spielberg film.

I love how the presence of Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and Barbara Steele (The Pit and the Pendulum, Black Sunday) lends an old-school horror credibility to Piranha. The special effects, as crude as they were, proved to be successful in selling the concept. The sound effects come out on top, though, and I'll never forget how the sound of the feeding fish gave me nightmares when I was a kid.




Starcrash is another one of the glorious Roger Corman productions that made the late 1970s and early 1980s worthwhile, and it's one of the more fun sci-fi films that rode on the coattails of Star Wars during that era. Caroline Munro, whom all of you know from The Spy Who Loved Me and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, provides eye candy as the brilliant star pilot who, along with her alien friend and a robot, helps to save the galaxy from a ruthless Count and his army of droids and computers. Munro was never an Academy Awards actress, but she had other attributes that ensured her success in cinema. During this movie, she changes into several fantastic rather skimpy outfits, and that's a big factor in the film's awesomeness.

Marjoe Gortner, who starred in films like Earthquake and The Food of the Gods, is a trip as Munro's alien navigator. Christopher Plummer is quite good as a courageous galactic emperor. His son, the prince heir, is played by none other than David Hasselhoff, whom you all know from the television shows, Knight Rider and Baywatch.

This movie has it all...spaceships, babes, robots, lasers, cavemen, explosions, and even great music, courtesy of John Barry. As long as you go into it expecting an amusing low-budget film and nothing more, then you'll likely get a lot of enjoyment out of it.




Death Race 2000 is one of the most fun low-budget films of the 1970s, and, like Rock 'n' Roll High School, Piranha, and Battle Beyond the Stars, it's a Roger Corman production that I've loved since childhood. The idea of a dystopian society that cheers for trans-America car racers who rack up points based on how many pedestrians they kill is quite an insidious way to satirize America's news media and our obsession with fame, and, as such, this is a movie that has lost none of its spirited bite. David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone, and Martin Kove are all awesome in some early roles, while Roger Corman regulars Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel are memorable with their appearances. Simone Griffeth, who plays the navigator for Carradine's Frankenstein, is just perfect, and I wish that she had appeared in more films from that era.

Years have passed since the last time that I revisited Death Race 2000, and I had forgotten how much I love this gloriously scrappy slice of Americana.




Battle Beyond the Stars is the most expensive film that was produced by Roger Corman, and it's a wildly fun sci-fi movie that ascends to the higher ranks of the Star Wars ripoffs. It's basically a sci-fi remake of Seven Samurai/The Magnificent Seven, and, while it does not delve quite as deeply into thought-provoking concepts as those films do, it does do a great job when it comes to giving each "samurai" a distinct identity and character so that we grow to love all of them, and we miss the ones that are killed.

The awesome John Saxon (Enter the Dragon, A Nightmare on Elm Street) plays the evil Sador, whose ship descends on the peaceful planet, Akir, to enslave the inhabitants and take over the resources. Richard Thomas (The Waltons) plays a young Akir lad who embarks on a mission to hire mercenaries to defend the planet from Sador. George Preppard (The A-Team) is a rogue space cowboy from Earth who is early to join in. Robert Vaughn plays a wealthy mercenary whose character arc is the most emotionally resonant of the story. The amply-gifted (if you know what I mean) Sybil Danning plays a reckless, but courageous pilot who cannot resist getting into the fray. Darlanne Fluegel (To Live and Die in L.A., Running Scared) was one of the most underratedly beautiful actresses of the 1980s, and her presence lends an additional good-natured happy vibe to the proceedings.

The special effects in Battle Beyond the Stars were helmed by a young James Cameron. This is not a movie to be taken entirely seriously, as evidenced by the "suggestive" design of Richard Thomas's spaceship. It's all in the fun.




How did I make it through 44 years of my life without having seen this movie? As far as low-budget exploitation films go, this is awesome cinema.

Humanoids from the Deep, is a fast-paced and wildly fun movie about man/fish hybrid mutants that terrorize a rural fishing community. The best way to describe these mutant humanoids is to say that they look like what would happen if the Creature from the Black Lagoon lifted weights constantly and lived on a steady diet of steroids and creatine supplements. The creatures, which are a result of a scientific experiment gone awry, are coming ashore in search of human women for procreation. The monster and makeup effects are outstanding by the standards of low-budget cinema, and, unlike most monster films that only show us a few-second glimpse of a creature during the last scene, this movie gives us scene after scene of outstandingly gory monster attacks with plenty of gratuitous nude scenes thrown into the fold. I wanted to cheer out loud during the final showdown, when these massive creatures arrive in great numbers to attack crowds of townspeople at a big waterside festival. Roger Corman always excelled at giving audiences exactly what they want, and Humanoids of the Deep is just the kind of glorious excess, albeit low-budget excess, that he is noted for producing.

James Horner, who has scored several "serious" movies like Titanic and Braveheart, provides some good music for Humanoids from the Deep. Vic Morrow (Twilight Zone: The Movie) is the most recognizable actor in the film, but Ann Turkel is a pleasure to watch as the beautiful scientist whose work has caused all of the big bad monster trouble.




Forbidden World, another glorious Roger Corman production, not only rips off the plot of Alien, but it also rips off footage from a previous Corman film, Battle Beyond the Stars. The fact that this movie is not only watchable, but actually quite fun, is a testament to the abilities of the low-budget film crew, all of whom were quite enthusiastic about the project.

Jesse Vint, who is best known for a myriad of supporting roles during the late 1970s and early 1980s, plays an intergalactic federal marshal who is assigned to investigate problems at a genetics laboratory on an isolated planet. It tuns out that the scientists' plans to engineer a life form capable of feeding the population has spiraled out of control, resulting in a massive mutant creature that turns humans into gross indistinct masses of protein for its own food source. This plot is basically just an excuse for copious amounts of gore and gratuitous nudity, but the end result is nonetheless entertaining. I love that the two female "scientists", played by June Chadwick and Dawn Dunlap, walk around the laboratory in clear stripper high heels and have a propensity to have long serious conversations while washing each other's hair in the shower. The mutant looks like a knockoff Walmart version of the creature in Alien, but effective camerawork and quick editing make it halfway fearsome during the confrontation scenes.

Years have passed since the last time that I saw Forbidden World, but I quite enjoyed revisiting it last night. It's another example of how even the bad sci-fi movies of the 1980s were still good simply because they were so...so 1980s.

If you're a 1980s kid like me, in fact, then you'll remember June Chadwick from her role in the original V miniseries as the blonde alien who is Diana's second-in-command.




Galaxy of Terror, another glorious Roger Corman production that stretches a low-budget to accommodate plenty of crudely innovative special effects, along with helpings of gore and nudity, is another Alien ripoff that nonetheless stands on its own due to a cooly enigmatic storyline. When a rescue ship touches down on a remote planet, the crew discover an alien pyramid and, upon entering it, are all confronted by their innermost fears. This movie used to air on HBO during my childhood, and one particular scene, where a giant maggot-like creature attacks and rapes a female crew member, was the main topic of day-after discussion among all who watched it.

A young James Cameron helmed the production design for Galaxy of Terror, and the look of this film is uncannily similar to the look of the outdoor scenes in Aliens, which he directed years later. Robert Englund, whom we all recognize as Freddy from A Nightmare on Elm Street, has a prominent role in the film. Ray Walston, who starred in the title role of the My Favorite Martian television show and as a teacher in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, is great as another one of the unfortunate crew members. Erin Moran, whom we all recognize as Joanie from Joanie Loves Chachi television show, is quite good as one of the female crew members, as is the beautiful Taaffe O'Connell, who should probably get bonus points for keeping a straight face during the filming of her scene with the giant maggot. Sid Haig (The Devil's Rejects, Pit Stop, Spider Baby) has a mostly non-dialogue role, but still manages a good screen presence. My favorite cast member in this picture, however, is Grace Zabriskie (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, The Grudge) as a strangely sexy older female crew member.




The Big Doll House, which was produced by Roger Corman and directed by the great Jack Hill (Foxy Brown, Switchblade Sisters), stars Pam Grier (Foxy Brown, Jackie Brown) as one of a group of female inmates who plan an escape from an unpleasant Philippines prison. Sid Haig (The Devil's Rejects), who starred in a great many Jack Hill films, plays a supply trucker who is compelled to aid the women in their escape. The Big Doll House is one of those glorious 1970s grindhouse films upon which directors like Quentin Tarantino have modeled their entire careers, and it's still a trip to watch. I've always enjoyed prison escape movies in general, and it doesn't hurt that this one happens to have a lot of eye candy.

Women in Cages, another one of Roger Corman's women-in-prison movies that were filmed in the Philippines, brings back three actresses from The Big Doll House, which I watched earlier yesterday. Pam Grier (Foxy Brown, Jackie Brown) plays "Alabama", a sadistic prison guard who singles out certain women to abuse in "the playpen", which is a secret room full of various torture devices. The beautiful Roberta Collins and Judith Brown also return as two of the unfortunate inmates who, along with newcomer Jennifer Gan, must plan an escape from this prison. Escape, of course, is easier said than done, because the prison is surrounded by miles of Philippines jungle, where bandits are happy to return escaped inmates dead or alive...usually dead...to the prison in exchange for money. As one might ascertain from the above sentences, Women in Cages is a rather vile and icky film, and, while watching it, one can almost smell the inside of the seedy 1970s Times Square theaters that this movie likely thrived in. This particular film lacks the fun-spirited brilliance of director Jack Hill, who helmed The Big Doll House and The Big Bird Cage, which I'll be watching later in the week, That said, the movie is never boring, and it moves along at a lightning pace. Prison escape movies are always engaging to me, even if, as in this case, I felt the need to take a shower afterward to wash off some of the sleaze.

The Big Bird Cage, which was produced by Roger Corman and directed by the great Jack Hill (Foxy Brown, Switchblade Sisters), stars Pam Grier (Foxy Brown, Jackie Brown), and like The Big Doll House, which was created by the same team, is an engaging prison escape film with occasional comedy, mostly thanks to Sid Haig (The Devil's Rejects). Grier and Haig star as Philippines revolutionaries who stage a riot and a subsequent escape attempt at a remote prison known for its "bird cage", a big wooden tower where the female inmates work to process sugar cane. The beautiful Anitra Ford, who is best known as a hostess on TV show, The Price is Right, plays an inmate who has been wrongfully imprisoned. This is the third Corman film involving a women's prison in the Philippines, and, although all three films share cast members and crew, they are not narratively linked. If you're a fan of Roger Corman's low-budget flicks, or are a fan of 1970s grindhouse/exploitation in general, then you'll probably get a kick out of it.




Deathstalker is another fun cult classic from producer Roger Corman, and, as such, it makes the most of a limited budget to tell a crude, yet oddly fun-spirited story. Deathstalker, a muscular blonde medieval warrior played by Rick Hill, who never quite matches Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting chops from Conan the Barbarian, must defeat other warriors in a tournament in order to destroy the evil magician lord Munkar and unite the three powers represented by a sword, and amulet, and a chalice. Of course, the process of defeating Munkar on this mission involves encountering and sleeping with several gorgeous medieval ladies, the most notable of which are played by Lana Clarkson and Barbi Benton. If you are the sort who always watches movies and wishes they had more gratuitous nude scenes, then Deathstalker is the film for you. As an Internet Movie Database review helpfully points out, this movie features over 25 boob scenes, 27 butt shots, and even one mud wrestling scene. Despite the shamelessly politically incorrect and rather misogynistic vibe of this movie, I still found it to be more interesting than I expected. As far as throwaway 1980s sword-and-sorcery flicks go, this one would make for a good marathon with Conan the Barbarian, The Beastmaster, and The Sword and the Sorcerer, although it's not quite on the same level of campy greatness as those films.

The first Deathstalker film is not exactly a cinematic milestone, but it succeeded at delivering a fun and shamelessly sleazy story, despite the low budget. Deathstalker II, by contrast, wears its low budget proudly on its sleeve, complete with "actors" who do not take their roles seriously at all, and with medieval-era settings that still have cars and modern-day props in full view for an attentive audience. That said, it's an oddly endearing sequel, mostly thanks to John Terlesky's hilariously dismissive portrayal of the title character and to the alternately cute and gorgeous Monique Gabrielle in dual roles. It's quite amazing how different the low-budget early 1980s flicks look from the low-budget late-1980s flicks, mostly due to different film stocks and a vastly more laid-back approach. Even with Roger Corman as the uncredited executive producer, this particular film takes no efforts to hide what it is, and, in a way, that's a good thing, as long as you know what you're getting into by watching it.




When a giant shark-like creature of unknown species terrorizes a Hawaiian resort community, teams of hunters rush to the ocean in hopes of collecting reward money, only to get in over their heads.

Up from the Depths, a 1979 Roger Corman production, sports a prestigious 2.6 rating on the Internet Movie Database, and is generally regarded as a horrible film with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. If, like me, you're a fan of Corman's output, however, then you'll have an idea of what you're getting yourself into by sitting down to watch this lower-rung Jaws clone.

I've seen worse, and, in fact, I've seen far worse. Up from the Depths, with all of its scattershot out-of-nowhere moments and subpar acting, still entertained me all the way through. The most recognizable face here is actor Sam Bottoms, who is best known for his role as Lance the surfer in Apocalypse Now. Susanne Reed is incredibly sexy as the hotel resort publicity spokesperson turned shark hunter. The giant fish is no special effects masterpiece, but it succeeds to a presentable extent thanks to the camerawork. It's quite obvious that this movie is not meant to be taken seriously, as is made clear by the timing of the name, "Sam Bottoms", in the opening credits, and by random where-did-they-come-from? characters, namely a Japanese samurai, but it's still a rewatchable example of low-budget goodness made on the fly.

[Professor Echo]

He also appears in the cast of THE WASP WOMAN, albeit in just one scene with one line.

[lilboyblu]

Great thread, Owl!

Hadn't you posted a review on The Secret Invasion somewhere on the site? Or, am I maybe confusing that with a Go Tell The Spartans review? Thought you had mentioned your thoughts on both of those at one time, but I could be mistaken...

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by lilboyblu

Hadn't you posted a review on The Secret Invasion somewhere on the site? Or, am I maybe confusing that with a Go Tell The Spartans review? Thought you had mentioned your thoughts on both of those at one time, but I could be mistaken...

Not yet, but soon!

[The Great Owl]

Here's a review that I wrote a while back to push one of Corman's most underrated offerings...



The Premature Burial has a reputation nowadays for being the overly-stuffy Roger Corman adaptation of a Poe story that does not star Vincent Price. Ray Milland filled in the lead role for this movie because of contract difficulties prevented Price from starring when Corman wanted this to be an independent production. Sure enough, Ray Milland was a little too old for his role, and the early scenes in this movie take on the aesthetic of the one of the "women's gothic noir" pictures from a few years prior.

However...

About 55 minutes or so into its 81-minute run time, this movie suddenly becomes awesome. In fact, it has one of the most rockingly horror-tastic payoffs that I have seen in recent memory. I wanted to cheer out loud during some of the plot developments. The conclusion plays out in a way that combines the best of gothic horror and noir femme fatale tropes with a little bit of zombie imagery thrown in. I loved it.

Ray Milland, despite his age at the time of production, is quite excellent here, especially during the last 20 minutes. Hazel Court, whom we all love in The Masque of The Red Death and The Raven, is gorgeous as the overburdened housewife who suffers when her husband, played by Milland, develops a preoccupation with his phobia of being buried alive.

I'm not too keen on the idea of being buried alive myself, so certain images in this movie gave me pause, and, even today, they are genuinely creepy.

I prefer the Poe adaptations that starred Vincent Price, but those of you who purchase The Premature Burial are not getting the short end of the stick here. This one stands proudly on the shelf with the other Poe films.

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

Jonathan Demme

Who just passed today from cancer complications. He directed three films for Corman - Caged Heat, Crazy Mama, and Fighting Mad. (He also wrote three additional Corman productions - Angels Hard as They Come, The Hot Box, and Black Mama, White Mama, and was the second-unit director for Fly Me.)

[The Great Owl]

I went back and added a few of the movies where Roger Corman was an uncredited producer.

Namely Blood Bath, Pit Stop, The Bees, The Slumber Party Massacre (and II and III), and Sorority House Massacre.

It's quite an undertaking trying to figure out where Roger Corman lent his production duties, but this is also fun.

[El_Fez]

Of all his movies, I think I enjoy Death Race 2000 the most. Stupid and cheesy, sure - but still a ton of fun. And the sequel from a couple of months ago - it wasn't all that bad.

I really need to upgrade my DVDs to blu here soon.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by El_Fez

And the sequel from a couple of months ago - it wasn't all that bad.

I'm going to confess to everyone that my blind spot is the post-1980s Roger Corman productions. He has produced a ton of films after 1990, but I have only seen a few at best. I may (and probably will) need some help with the listings of his post-1990 productions on Blu-ray.

Dinoshark and the other television movies look pretty fun, but Roger Corman movies without the violence and nudity seem sort of like the equivalent of sugar-free doughnuts.

I'll give more of his latter-era films a shot in time.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

(Also, if the OP gets too big/unwieldy down the line, you could consider changing the cover art size to medium later, as I did with the above disc.)

Thanks! I went ahead and switched them all to medium just now. The original post should now be much easier on the eyes.

(I never noticed this option until today.)

[StingingVelvet]

I need a lot of these and it's scary to look at since they're all label releases that could vanish anytime. Need to start prioritizing them.

[Gerby]

Question is when are we gonna get The Intruder (1962) on blu ray? By far the best thing Corman ever directed!