No other company has done more of Australian cinema than Umbrella Entertainment – the home of Ozploitaion, but the Melbourne-based label is also responsible for some of the most random and outrageous Blu-ray releases on the market.
I had heard of Krull before, but never gave the lesser known title much thought as I was preoccupied with more prominent titles like Willow and Ladyhawke. What lead to me finally watching Krull was finding it listed among the ’10 Best Star Wars Rip-Offs’. While it’s far less obvious than others, the swashbuckling adventure […]
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I had my first taste of Philippe Mora’s body of work recently in the form of Howling III: The Marsupials, an off-the-wall send up of cheap and nasty B-pictures, but with an Australian flavour. Now I’ve jumped back eleven years with his more celebrated ‘Ozploitation Classic’ Mad Dog Morgan, which like Howling III, made its
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Splatter hounds rejoice because New Zealand’s open-brain nightmare Death Warmed Up is now on Blu-ray thanks to Umbrella Entertainment. Directed by schlock-master David Blyth (My Grandpa is a Vampire), this incoherent horror/sci-fi mash-up follows a man set on avenging his horrific treatment at the hands of a crazed scientist, whose experiments involve a barbaric form
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Umbrella Entertainment have brought many obscure Australian films to the home media market, titles that would have otherwise remained unheard of by most. However, their March line-up featured the staple classic Storm Boy, on Blu-ray for the very first time in a release I’m confident will never be matched. Based on Colin Thiele’s acclaimed novel,
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March was a heavy-hitter for Blu-ray releases from Umbrella Entertainment with Philippe Mora’s Howling III: The Marsupials taking much of the spotlight via a very generous treatment for the Ozploitation classic. Unrelated to Joe Dante’s 1981 original, a sociologist studying werewolves searches for proof of their existence in Australia where an aspiring actress appears to
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While not a film one would expect to fall under Umbrella Entertainment’s home library, its status as underappreciated has made Cry Freedom a worthy selection for HD treatment. From director Richard Attenborough, this racially and politically charged drama tells the courageous true story of native South African activist Steve Biko and white journalist Donald Woods.
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Umbrella Entertainment delivers its first ‘OzErotic’ double feature to Blu-ray in the form of John D. Lamond’s Felicity and Tony Paterson’s debut film Centrespread, two highly exploitative yet, profoundly different features. Felicity follows a young woman’s eagerness to live out her sexual fantasies but is confined to a monastic school, until a trip to Hong
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As many collectors and film fans bask in this 4K climate, the phrase “…first time on DVD.” probably sounds almost foreign to most. However, it’s very much the case for Lunatics: A Love Story, which recently made its surprise debut to the SD format under Umbrella Entertainment in Australia. Hank Stone (Theodore “Ted” Raimi) hasn’t
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Umbrella Entertainment’s announcement of Apt Pupil Blu-ray release to come out of left field but was met with a generally positive response from fans of the suburban thriller. Based on Stephen King’s novella of the same name, our story takes place in Southern California, 1984. Todd Bowden, a 16-year-old student discovers that his elderly neighbour
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Trailing the exhaust fumes left in the wake of Mad Max, Australia’s brand of exploitation cinema reached new heights in the form of The Chain Reaction from veteran film and television director Ian Barry. Unearthed and fully remastered by Umbrella Entertainment, the obscure action sci-fi smashed its way onto Blu-ray last November, much to the
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