MANIAC COP hits Hi-Def and bizarro SOUTH OF HEAVEN finally comes home

We are huge fans of Synapse Films at Destroy the Brain. Don May Jr. and his assorted bunch of film misfits really cater to genre fans with quality releases. For example, Synapse is putting the previously mistreated-on-DVD title The Exterminator next Tuesday, September 13th (Review coming soon). Synapse keeps the exploitation Blu-Ray train rolling with William Lustig’s Maniac Cop, which stars Bruce Campbell and Tom Atkins, and a revenge flick called South of Heaven which played at the now expired CineVegas Film Festival back in 2008. Click below for the details!

From the Press Release:

Innocent people are brutally killed on the streets of New York by a uniformed police officer. A young cop, Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell, TV’s BURN NOTICE and THE EVIL DEAD Trilogy) finds himself marked as the chief suspect after his wife is murdered. As Lieutenant Frank McCrae (Tom Atkins, DRIVE ANGRY and LETHAL WEAPON) investigates, the death toll rises and he suspects a mysterious police cover-up. This “maniac” cop must be stopped, but it might not be so easy. He seems inhuman, and ready to take on the entire police force, hell-bent on revenge! Restored and remastered from original vault materials by Synapse Films,
MANIAC COP looks and sounds better than ever in this brand-new 2011 high-definition transfer, featuring newly remixed DTS-HD Master Audio surround sound! Long considered a classic of the horror genre, MANIAC COP was written and produced by Larry Cohen (IT’S ALIVE, PHONE BOOTH) and directed by William Lustig (MANIAC, VIGILANTE).

Special Features and Disc Info (MANIAC COP):

• Maniac Cop Memories – Interview with Robert Z’Dar
• Out the Window – Interview with Tom Atkins
• Three Minutes with Danny Hicks Featurette
• Motion Still Gallery
• Additional Scenes Filmed for Japanese TV
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Spanish Radio Spot

Director: William Lustig
Starring: Bruce Campbell and Tom Atkins
Run Time: 87 minutes
Release Date: October 11, 2011
Language: English (6.1 and 4.0 Surround)
Aspect Ratio: High-Definition 1080p Widescreen (1:85:1)
Format: Blu-ray
Price: $24.95

A bold anti-hero origin story steeped with atmosphere and ultraviolence! When
Roy Coop finished his stint in the Navy,
he only had two things on his mind: seeing his brother Dale, and writing the great American novel. What he gets, however, is the homecoming from Hell! A pair of violent vaudevillians (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE’s Jon Gries, and Thomas Jay Ryan) mistake him for his brother, looking to collect on a debt he didn’t know he owed. Eight fingers later, Roy is burnt to a crisp, forged by fire into a new man. Roy is dead. Nobody is born. Now it’s Nobody’s turn to have his wicked revenge, and to save his brother before it’s too late. Wrapped in bandages and ready for blood, Nobody is determined to kill those that gets in his way, even the murdering masochist named Mad Dog Mantee (Shea Whigham, MACHETE and HBO’s BOARDWALK EMPIRE).
Dodging bullets and dodging dames, Nobody meets the nasty ne’er-do-wells
Lily (Diora Baird, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING)
and Veronica (Elina Löwensohn, SCHINDLER’S LIST). In this wonderful neo-film-noir, violence and vengeance are destined to meet in a little town
they call… SOUTH OF HEAVEN.
Bonus Features include Three Audio Commentaries, Three Short Films from Director J.L. Vara

Special Features and Disc Info (SOUTH OF HEAVEN):

• Three Audio Commentaries featuring Cast Members, Filmmakers, and Critics
• Three Short Films by Director J.L. Vara

Director: J.L. Vara
Starring: Shea Whigham, Diora Baird, Elina Löwensohn
Run Time: 97 minutes
Release Date: October 11, 2011
Language: English (5.1 Surround)
Aspect Ratio: Anamorphic 1.78:1
Format: DVD
Price: $19.95

 

You can pre-order the titles via Amazon.com by clicking on the covers above or the links below:

Pre-Order Maniac Cop
Pre-Order South of Heaven