TOP 45 RELEASES FOR 2019 PART 5

Well now we are in a new year and I am bringing you my Top 10 Blu-ray and DVD releases for 2019. It has been a five week countdown, and this is the conclusion.

10. GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE 1972 (SHOUT FACTORY) BLU-RAY... This wonderful late night chiller stars Michael Pataki as a long dead vampire come to life in modern times. One of the best films of the 70's finally gets a beautiful release.

09. THE MANITOU 1977 (SHOUT FACTORY) BLU-RAY... A personal favorite of mine about an ancient Indian spirit returning to modern times via a young woman and some gruesome medical problems. Tony Curtis stars in this excellent and very weird film.

08. DEEP SPACE 1988 (SCORPION) BLU-RAY... The Fred Olen Ray classic about an alien organism landing on Earth and killing people by tearing them apart. I have always loved this film and was very happy to see it finally get a Blu-ray treatment. One of the best horror films of the 80's.

07. HEMISPHERE BOX SET 1966-1974 (SEVERIN) BLU-RAY... One of two box sets included in the top 10. This beautiful set contains the following...CURSE OF THE VAMPIRES...THE BLOOD DRINKERS...BRAIN OF BLOOD...TORTURE CHAMBER OF DR. SADISM and THE BLACK CAT. A great mixture of Philippine horror, euro horror, US exploitation and Texas made thrills. It doesn't get any better.

06. TARANTULA 1955 (SHOUT FACTORY) BLU-RAY... One of my top ten favorite 50's monster movies came to Blu in 2019. John Agar and Mara Corday star in this tale of a huge spider running loose in the desert. One of the best films of its kind.

05. GODZILLA: THE SHOWA YEARS 1954-1974 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY... 15 Godzilla movies are included in this wonderful set and they all look as good as they ever could. This is the highest rated Box set in the countdown and one that SHOULDN'T be missed by any Godzilla fan.

04. DETOUR 1945 (CRITERION) BLU-RAY... A stunning 4k restoration of this all time film noir classic with Tom Neal as a man who gets caught up in a web of murder by no fault of his own. Film Noir gets no better than this, and a HUGE thanks to Criterion for bringing it out after an exhaustive search for proper elements.

03. QUATERMASS 2 1957 (SHOUT FACTORY) BLU-RAY... Another of my top ten favorite 50's monster movies came to Blu in 2019. This is a stunning presentation of the classic film with Brian Donlevy as Prof. Quatermass. This time the Prof. is trying to stop alien spores from taking over the world. Excellent on every level.

02. QUATERMASS AND THE PIT 1967 (SHOUT FACTORY) BLU-RAY... Andrew Keir stars as Prof. Quatermass in this 60's sci-fi hits that finally made it to Blu-ray thanks to shout. The story concerns an ancient alien spaceship and it's inhabitants being dug up in a London subway. Seldom do sci-fi movies reach such a level of greatness as this one does.

And that brings me to my number one pick for the year. This was a film that came out too late to be included in last years countdown, but it was great enough for me to make it number one in 2019. And it is.....

01. MAUSOLEUM 1981 (VINEGAR SYNDROME) BLU-RAY... The incredibly beautiful Bobbie Bresee stars as a young woman who is possessed by a demon that must kill to live. The Blu ray is totally uncut and looks gorgeous. Marjoe Gortner and LaWanda Page also star. Page delivers my favorite line of all time..."no more grievin' I'm Leavin". This was a very special release for me and I love this film. If you haven't seen it, you should. Bresee has killer breasts in this movie, and I mean that literally!!

And there you are...my top 45 releases of the year and these are the final 10. I hope over the last five weeks you found some that you might want to see if you haven't already. Now we will see what 2020 brings as far as Blu-ray and DVD are concerned.