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FilmRot’s Gazz once put himself through a 30 hour, 17 film John Carpenter weekend. The results are still online here, here and here.

If you ever wondered what it is about John Carpenter that induces people to do things like this to themselves - and even if you hadn’t - now’s your chance to find out.

John Carpenter is a seminal figure in the history of horror and science fiction filmmaking, whose work in these genres has been highly influential in their ongoing development. This book comprises essays that address the whole of his work as well as those that focus on a smaller number of key films. The collection draws upon the analysis of an international group of expert scholars; some take on wide-ranging issues such as Carpenter’s approach to remakes and the question of genre itself, while others focus on a specific theme or technical aspect of Carpenter’s filmmaking. Includes coverage of Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Escape From New York, Christine, Escape From L.A., The Fog, The Thing and Village of the Damned. The book also includes an exclusive interview with John Carpenter.

You know Phantasm, don’t you? Of course you do. And if you Phantasm, you’ll be delighted to know that Don Coscarelli’s four film series is available in a superb collectors edition, packed with extras.

A Feature-Length In-Depth Analysis on the Phantasm Series and Beyond, with Director Don Coscarelli, Producers Paul Pepperman and D. A. Coscarelli, Stars Reggie Bannister, Michael Baldwin, Angus Scrimm, Bill Thornbury, Kathy Lester, Heidi Marnhout, Ed Gale, Musician Christopher L. Stone and Special FX Designer D. Kerry Prior Phantasmagorical Mystery Tour - An All-New Featurette in which Reggie Bannister Takes Us on a Mysterious Trip Phantasm: Genesis An in-depth behind-the-scenes look at specific scenes in the Phantasm series also featuring Interviews with Cast and Crew Nicotero: The Gory Days - An All-New Featurette with Special Effects Maestro Greg Nicotero Phandom - An All-New Featurette focusing on the Many ‘Phans’ of the Phantasm Series 1979 interview with George Capewell, Don Coscarelli and Angus Scrimm TV and Radio Spots

It’s a common enough occurrence: a science-fiction show that’s a little out of the ordinary is launched, starts to build an audience… and then get’s cancelled.

First shown in the US, Odyssey 5 ran for only 14 of its 20 episodes before being pulled, despite being the highest rating original series on the Showtime channel. The other six episodes were eventually shown two years later. In the UK, all 20 episodes were shown on both Sky One and the SciFi channel.

While in orbit around the Earth, the crew of Space Shuttle Odyssey witnesses the inconceivable: the complete annihilation of Earth in a fiery explosion. With one crew member dead, another suffering from a concussion, and only nine hours of oxygen left on the ship, the fate of the astronauts seems to be sealed. But then they encounter a mysterious alien entity known as The Seeker that informs them that populated planets across the universe are suffering the same cataclysmic fate as the Earth. Using its strange powers, The Seeker transports the five surviving members of the Odyssey back through time. The members of the crew wake up five years earlier; the Earth still exists, but they all share the same awful memory of what lies in store. Seeking each other out, they must discover the secret of the Bright Sky and figure out the meaning of the last message sent from Earth, a coded warning about something known as Leviathan. If they can’t solve the mystery then history will repeat, and the world will end in inferno.

First there was Box of the Banned, and now - inevitably - there’s a sequel.

Box of the Banned 2 is a selection of six more films that were originally banned under the Obscene Publication Act of 1983/1984.

In ‘Evilspeak’, a young, misfit, military cadet suffers constant torment by his classmates and dreams of nothing but revenge. When he discovers an ancient satanic temple, with it’s attendant secrets, his vengeful fantasies become transformed into a violent reality. Combining the temple secrets with his advanced computer skills, he begins to beckon forth demons and cast evil spells on the objects of his hatred, securing the ultimate revenge. Also includes: ‘Contamination’, ‘Tenebrae’, ‘Don’t Go Near The Park’ and ‘The Witch Who Came From The Sea’ plus the documentary ‘Ban The Sadist Videos: Part 2′.

Buy it before they ban it. Again.

The undisputed King of Erotica lends his name to twelve of the sexiest short stories imaginable. Directed in the Tinto Brass style by some of the most talented new Italian directors working today, Tinto Brass has produced the films as well as featuring in his trademark cameo appearances.

This box set includes Julia, Quattro, Improper Liaisons and Hold My Wrists Tight.

Another collection of Pedro Almodovar films:

Flower of My Secret

Spain’s high priest of hip, Pedro Almodovar, returns with a brilliant combination of his familiar stylized comedy and a new departure into full-blooded melodrama.

Leo leads a secret double life as an author of romantic fiction. However her success as the best-selling Amanda Gris hasn’t brought her happiness and things are getting worse. Her husband doesn’t love her, her best friend is strangely distracted and her mother and sister are too busy bickering to notice that anything’s wrong.

Abandoned by her muse and seeking solace in the bottle since the collapse of her marriage, an unlikely rescuer sets her on a collision course to a new emotional entanglement…

Kika

Young cosmetologist Kika (Verónica Forqué) is called to the mansion of rich American Nicholas (Peter Coyote) in order to make up the corpse of his stepson Ramon. As it turns out, Ramon is not actually dead and he begins an affair with Kika…

However, the path of true love never does run smooth and the pair must survive the threats of Kika’s previous affair with Nicholas, the mystery surrounding the all-too suspicious death of Ramon’s mother and Ramon’s former psychologist…

‘Kika’, an hilarious comedy written and directed by Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar, comes to DVD fOr the first time.

Law of Desire

‘Law of Desire’ is an unbridled send-up of the absurdities of human desire, a wildly funny film that took American and European audiences by storm and immediately established director Pedro Almodovar.

‘Law of Desire’ features a fabulous trio - Pablo, a famous Madrid director for whom men are prepared to die, his new love-crazed boyfriend Antonio, and Pablo’s flamboyant and gorgeous transsexual sister Tina.

Pablo is suffering because Juan, his lover, shares his steamy passion but not his commitment, and has returned to his village in southern Spain. Trying to forget him, Pablo is seduced by the tall, dark, handsome and heterosexual Antonio who, in the space of 24 hours, goes from having his first gay affair, to being Pablo’s demanding - and threatening - lover. Pablo makes the mistake of dismissing Antonio as inconsequential but Antonio intends to pursue his passions to their ultimate conclusion.

Matador

At his school in Madrid, ex-bullfighter Diego Montes instructs his students in the corrida: ‘the art of the kill’. Trainee bullfighter Angelo, sexually repressed and mother fixated, is taunted about his suspected homosexuality by Diego.

To prove his masculinity Angel attempts to sexually assault Diego’s girlfriend. Failing in his attempt and consumed by guilt he confesses to murders he did not commit – the victims are killed with bullfighting instruments at the moment of sexual climax.

Angel is defended by lawyer Maria Cardenal, the real killer, who is obsessed with Diego and uses Angel to draw the maestro Matador into one last confrontation.

A collection of 5 horrors from Britain’s Amicus Studio, packaged in a suitably chilling coffin-shaped box.

In ‘And Now The Screaming Starts’ a young married couple are thrown into a web of fear when they move into an eerie house that is subject to an evil curse and inhabited by a dismembered hand. ‘Doctor Terror’s House Of Horror’ tells how Doctor Terror catches a train and persuades five passengers to have their fortunes told using the Tarot Cards. In ‘The House That Dripped Blood’ an investigator looks into the strange goings-on in an empty house. ‘Asylum’ consists of four tales of terror which are revealed to a new doctor by four mental asylum inmates. Each tale leads to a puzzling mystery which is solved during the final tale. ‘The Beast Must Die’ finds a rich sportsman who invites a number of guests to his house with the knowledge that one of them is a werewolf. The film features a novel ‘guess who’ sequence at the end.

You know you want to…

The Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead is the first in-depth study in English of the career of this foremost auteur working at the margins of the Hollywood mainstream in the horror genre. In placing Romero’s oeuvre in the context of literary naturalism, the book explores the relevance of the director’s films within American cultural traditions and thus explains the potency of such work beyond ’splatter movie’ models.