In 1981, maverick Pittsburgh filmmaker George Romero, still hot off the smashing worldwide success of his full-color zombie horror epic Dawn of the Dead, made the most personal movie of his career: Knightriders. An intimate and action-packed story of a traveling troupe of artists, actors, and stunt riders who engage in jousting matches on souped-up motorcycles, Knightriders was the first major screen role for future star Ed Harris and overcame lackluster box office and initial audience reception to become a cult classic that continues to endure as one of Romero’s finest movies more than three decades later.

British home entertainment outfit Arrow Video has granted Knightriders its first release on Blu-ray in the entire civilized this month and is celebrating the occasion in high style by giving the movie a full restoration and some new in-depth supplements. (A new Knightriders Blu-ray will be out this July for the U.S.)

Iron Man: Rise Of The Technovore
Blu-ray | DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Hiroshi Hamazaki
Starring Norman Reedus, Matthew Mercer, Eric Bauza
Marvel Entertainment/Sony Pictures/Madhouse Studios
Release Date: April 16, 2013

Suffice to say that I am an Iron Man fan. Got the iconic character tattooed to my back years ago (along with a couple dozen others) and I buy almost as much Shellhead merchandise as I do Caped Crusader stuff. So yeah, I asked to review Iron Man: Rise Of The Technovore as soon as it was offered up. I did, after all, pretty much like the Marvel Anime: Iron Man- The Complete Series that I reviewed here a while back. So I naturally thought it would be a fun watch. And it’s totally like I jinx myself every time I think like that, because “fun” didn’t even get near this mess.

To be honest, Iron Man: ROTT was well animated, there was nothing with which I could find a complaint (other than words not syncing with lip movements). And it wasn’t the voice actors that made me unhappy as they were okay for the most part, though the trademark Tony Stark glibness wasn’t really to be found here. No, I’m going to just have to say it was because the main story made almost no sense. Honestly, it was ridiculous at the very least and the iconic characters were not represented well at all.

Zombie Flesh Eaters
Blu-ray | DVD
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Starring Ian McCulloch, Tisa Farrow, Richard Johnson
Arrow Films
Release Date: December 3, 2012

The late Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci has been a legend to fans of hardcore international horror for more than three decades, and with good reason. His movies are dripping with creepy atmosphere and overflowing with brutal violence and copious amounts of unrestrained blood and gore. Sometimes they can even be terrifying as hell.

Long before he made his name as a master of over-the-top fright flicks Fulci had made many features in various genres, from erotica to spaghetti westerns and crime dramas. When he started branching out into darker tales of psychological torment and relentless carnage like Lizard in a Woman’s Skin and Don’t Torture a Duckling the director believed he had discovered a new niche in his cinematic output and stuck with it for the rest of his career. Horror ultimately became the enduring legacy of Lucio Fulci, and many of us doubt he regretted that outcome.

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is House – The Complete Series DVD box set for $83.99 (58% off the list price of $199.98).

The DVD set comes with 41 discs of all 8 seasons of the popular Fox medial drama House, which aired from 2004 to 2012. The show starred Hugh Laurie in the title role, along with Anne Dudek, Lisa Edelstein, Olivia Wilde, David Morse, Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, among many other stars.

Note, this deal is valid only for today, Friday, March 22, 2012, until 11:59pm PST while supplies last.

The recent Steven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Traffic) thriller Side Effects is making its way to home video with the announcement that the movie will be arriving on Blu-ray and DVD on May 21st. If you can’t wait until then, it will also be available via digital download beginning on May 7th.

The movie stars Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network) as a woman who begins suffering from terrifying anxiety after her husband (Channing Tatum — Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street) is released from prison for insider trading. Seeking an answer, she sees psychiatrist Dr. Banks (Jude Law — Sherlock Holmes, Road to Perdition), who prescribes her an experimental new drug, which ends up having deadly side effects.