ACTING OUT

I don't know how often I can say this but ACTING OUT is truly one of the lost gems of the Troma library. It's definitely in the T&A vein of classic Troma like, say, Foreplay, which is also from producer Carl Gurevich. But the movie's exploration of the sex fantasies of others evokes more reality TV-type fascination than late-night Skinemax titillation... although there is that too.
Directed by Gurevich and Ralph Rosenblum, the award-winning editor of Annie Hall and the original version of The Producers. (In the intro to Acting Out, the writers mistakenly credited Rosenblum with having won an Oscar. He did not. Oops.) The DVD also comes with an exclusive interview by Lloyd Kaufman with movie-nudity expert Mr. Skin.

SCARLET MOON

Like a bat out of hell comes this lo-fi vampire flick with a sense of humor and a sense of the absurd. Warren F. Disbrow, the video auteur behind the Flesh Eaters From Outer Space/Invasion For Flesh and Blood double-feature, takes us back to Neptune (New Jersey) and across the globe for this story of a sacred jewel with mystical power.
Also, there's naked chicks. The DVD has a feature-length making-of, created by Warren F. Disbrow himself.

HEAVEN & HELL ON WHEELS 2 PACK

I forgot to mention last month's release of the "Sugar and Space 2-Pack," which features the classic Lloyd Kaufman-scripted lesbian melodrama Sugar Cookies, starring low-budget movie queens Mary Woronov and Lynn Lowry, and the sci-fi drag-queen extravaganza Vegas in Space.
This time, I won't forget to mention April's release of the Al Adamson biker-bitches double feature of Angel's Wild Women and Satan's Sadists, called the "Heaven and Hell on Wheels 2-Pack."

SILVER HORDE

Based on the work of adventure novelist Rex Beach, whose Klondike adventures rivaled Jack London's in his day, The Silver Horde stars Joel McCrea (Sullivan's Travels) and Jean Arthur (Mr. Deeds Goes To Town) in a tale of romance, betrayal, hot-tempered fisticuffs, and... er... salmon fishing.

PERIOD PIECE

In the second of a projected series of four major releases from Giuseppe Andrews in 2006 (see Also in the Works below), Andrews takes a much smaller acting role than in January's Touch Me in the Morning and gives the spotlight to Tyree, who plays a senile man who hallucinates in a motel room about having sex with a prostitute named Serenity and who takes out his sexual frustaration with an axe to a rotting pig carcass.
Meanwhile, numerous subplots abound, including the story of a French midget trying to write the screenplay of his life and a series of interludes with men with hot-dog penises having sex with unsuspecting teddy bears. The DVD includes a brand-new interview with Giuseppe Andrews, the additional feature Jacuzzi Rooms, and more.

VIDEO VIXENS

Both April's release Acting Out and this film were at one time rated X. My, how times have changed. While the T&A and forthright sexuality of these two flicks at one time was edgy, now we have Chloe Sevigny swallowing Vincent Gallo's semen in one multiplex theater, while we have a couple going to a bunch of rock concerts and then going home for all sorts of explicit sex in the theater next door. Crazy.

MEAT WEED MADNESS

Aiden Dillard recently held a screening of Meat Weed in New York, and the audience response was unanimous: Masterpiece. Of course, I wasn't there at the screening myself, and no one I know was either, but I have no doubt that that was how it went.

ZOMBIEGEDDON

This disc is gonna be packed, with multiple commentaries, tons of interviews, some behind-the-scenes stuff, and some Troma exclusives: a brand-new interview by Lloyd Kaufman with gore movie legend Herschell Gordon Lewis and a first look at the making of POULTRYGEIST, specifically about recording the songs.

EAST END HUSTLE

This movie was co-written by Allan Moyle, who later went on to direct Pump Up The Volume, Empire Records, and Times Square. Considering that East End Hustle is about a pirate radio station run by Christian Slater in the basement of record store that employs Renee Zellweger and Liv Tyler and which is closing because rent is too high in Times Square, this all makes sense. (NOTE: This is not what East End Hustle is about.)