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May’s home media releases are ending on a high note, as we have a ton of great titles hitting Blu-ray, DVD and 4K Ultra HD, so I hope genre fans have their wallets ready for all the killer selections coming out this week. If you happened to miss it in theaters, Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man is heading to various formats on Tuesday, and if you’re a fan of Japanese filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto, you’ll definitely want to pick up Arrow Video’s Solid Metal Nightmares Collector Set.

Arrow is also keeping busy with two other titles this week – Lucky McKee’s The Woman, Blood Tide (1982) – and Blue Underground is bringing to cult classics to the world of 4K finally with their new releases of Maniac and Lucio Fulci’s Zombie. And as if all of that wasn’t enough, Vinegar Syndrome is resurrecting both Dolly Dearest and Pale Blood this week,...

Stars: Robert Kovacs, Daniel Baldwin, Richard Tyson, Eva Hamilton, Stormi Maya | Written and Directed by Rene Perez

[Note: With the film now out on DVD in the UK, here’s a reposting of our review of Death Kiss from its Us debut last year]

As if having one of his films, Playing With Dolls, released in the UK as Leatherface wasn’t bad enough (though not his decision but rather the UK distributors), Rene Perez has gone all out with his latest movie, in “homaging” other exploitation films – in this case Charles Bronson and Death Wish – with Death Kiss. Perez’s latest film features Charles Bronson doppelganger Robert Bronzi (here billed as Robert Kovacs), who previously appeared in another Rene Perez film From Hell to the Wild West, as a vigilante with a mysterious past who goes to a crime-infested city and takes the law into his own hands, trying to rid the city of crime whilst at the same time protecting a young mother and her child.

Death...

Stars: Robert Kovacs, Daniel Baldwin, Richard Tyson, Eva Hamilton, Stormi Maya | Written and Directed by Rene Perez

As if having one of his films, Playing With Dolls, released in the UK as Leatherface wasn’t bad enough (though not his decision but rather the UK distributors), Rene Perez has gone all out with his latest movie, in “homaging” other exploitation films – in this case Charles Bronson and Death Wish – with Death Kiss. Perez’s latest film features Charles Bronson doppelganger Robert Bronzi (here billed as Robert Kovacs), who previously appeared in another Rene Perez film From Hell to the Wild West, as a vigilante with a mysterious past who goes to a crime-infested city and takes the law into his own hands, trying to rid the city of crime whilst at the same time protecting a young mother and her child.

Death Kiss lays out its cards from the get-go,...

Director Rene Perez has announced a third film in the Playing with Dolls series. The second sequel will be called Playing With Dolls: Havoc. And, a few casting details have been announced. Nicole Stark (Obsidian Curse), Charlie Glakin (From Hell to the Wild West) and Playboy model April Summers will centrally star. Shooting will begin this February 10th. And, the first still, from the film, is shown here. The story for Havoc sounds similar to the previous two films. A killer has escaped jail. Now, he is on a murderous rampage as he tears through a group of unsuspecting vacationers. Director Perez will focus on action, in this slasher. Perez says of the bloodshed: "this time, I'm letting the action take center stage. I'm letting the carnage drive the story." Some of that macabre action can be seen here, with the antagonist's latest find - a severed hand! More...

Stars: Natasha Blasick, Richard Tyson, David A. Lockhart, Charlie Glackin, Alanna Forte | Written by Barry Massoni, Rene Perez | Directed by Rene Perez

Before we start, let me clarify some things… Or not. Because I’m still a little confused.

Last March saw the UK DVD release of director Rene Perez’s Playing With Dolls. That release passed me completely by, however I know it did get a decent reception from some quarters (if memory serves Zombie Hamster’s Dave Wain enjoyed it). Yet now, some months later, we have Playing With Dolls under the unoriginal, and possibly copyright infringing, title of Leatherface. Confused? I am. The BBFC website list this film’s cast as the sequels cast, whilst Amazon is the opposite. It doesn’t help that the UK distributor has the official synopsis for Playing With Dolls: Bloodlust on the back of the DVD but then has the cast...

Having only just been released in the UK earlier this year, Rene Perez’s Playing With Dolls was an underrated direct to DVD gem and now comes news that the film’s sequel Bloodlust is set to make its Us debut next month.

Playing with Dolls: Bloodlust focuses on a desperate single mom and the promise of quick cash. The reality is that Stina (Karin Brauns) has been tricked into performing for a reclusive sadist. The official synopsis reads thus:

A group of aspiring actors are chosen for a reality horror TV show. In the show, they must survive being chased by a killer. The program is filmed with scores of tiny cameras, in a cabin and the surrounding forest. What the contestants don’t know is that this murderer is a real killer and the television program is a ruse. Deep in an underground bunker, a psychotic voyeur watches...

Director: Rene Perez. Writers: Barry Massoni and Rene Perez. Cast: Natasha Blasick, Richard Tyson, Charlie Glackin and Alanna Forte. Playing with Dolls is director Rene Perez's (The Dead and the Damned) latest horror feature. Partially written by Barry Massoni (Demon Hunter), the film deals with the release of a psychopath, who has a simmering internal conflict with women. His latest crush is great eye candy, but this character offers very little else. Almost a bloodless slasher, Playing with Dolls offers very little hack and slash. Instead, the focus of the film is on cat-and-mouse sequences, housed in the usual cabin-in-the-woods setting. Playing with Dolls brings very little substance to the screen, unfortunately. The story begins with some horror. A nicely framed woman is stalked in the snow and tortured. Then, the film changes from the antagonist to the protagonist. Cindy (Natasha Blasick) is in dire straits. She has lost her job,...