Final Batch of Charles Band's Wizard Video VHS Releases

[JamesG]

http://www.wizardvideocollection.com/









Lost in a warehouse for 33 years! The amazing big box Wizard Video Collection!


An early pioneer in the home video business, Charles Band started both Meda Home Entertainment in the late 70’s and Wizard Video in 1980.

After releasing features like The Groove Tube, Flesh Gordon and Tunnelvision in the standard VHS box format Wizard Video introduced the oversized “big VHS box” which featured lurid titles such as Zombie, I Spit On Your Grave, Demoniac and Breeders!



After a few short years of these big VHS box releases Wizard Video returned to the standard size VHS box as retailers were quickly running out of shelf space.

A fond memory for people who grew up in the video store era of the early 80’s - the big VHS box has become a rare collectable due to its scarcity and (usually poor) condition. And now a treasure trove of original big VHS boxes was found late last year in one of Charles Band’s and Full Moon’s many overcrowded warehouses!



36 features are represented in this discovery with quantities ranging from 180 boxes to 420 boxes. The 30+ year old big VHS boxes are in mint condition as they have never been out of their original shipping boxes!

Beginning February 12th and for every month thereafter four of these 36 Wizard Video big box VHS cassettes will go on sale. They will contain the original program newly duplicated on VHS in a black clam shell which will be in the original box.

Each original box will be numbered based on quantities found (IE x180 original boxes were found of Return of the Zombies so therefore the numbers will start at 01/180, then 02/180 and all the way thru 180/180) and each box will be signed by Charles Band.

This is truly a rare discovery and little part of the early days of the home video explosion!

[JamesG]

Available Feb. 12:



Return of the Zombies (1973)
*Only 180 Available!*






The castle of Count Mihajli has become the site of murder after murder. Aided by a demented scientist, the Count is intent on reanimating the dead.

But their experiments yield deadly results, as the dead come to life with bloody consequences.







Trauma (1978)
*Only 310 Available!*






When the nude body of a young girl is discovered, a dedicated police detective is assigned the unusual case.

What follows is a mystery involving Catholic school girls and a homicidal killer who calls himself "Nemesis" and is hellbent on revenge.







Oasis of the Zombies (1982)
*Only 200 Available!*






A group of treasure hunters on the trail of Nazi gold find themselves face to face with a zombie army protecting their prize.







Demoniac (1975)
*Only 300 Available!*






A defrocked and defamed Catholic priest (played by director Jess Franco) witnesses a series of staged Black Masses complete with phony human sacrifices that drive him insane and send him on a murderous path of redemption to cleanse the streets of the spirit of Satan.

His victims, the cast and audience of the show, meet gruesome fates at the hand of the "Sword of the Lord."

[JamesG]

Available March 12th:



A Virgin Among The Living Dead (1973)
*Only 270 Available!*






A young woman travels to an eerie English castle to visit her estranged family and hear the reading of her late father's will...little does she know, a grim secret awaits her.

She will soon find herself in a never-ending nightmare as zombies rise up seeking virgin flesh!







Fear (1980)
*Only 360 Available!*






Troubled by a deadly childhood incident, a young man returns home to face his inner demons.

But murder and mystery is all he will find, forcing him to face his...FEAR!







Breeders (1986)
*Only 330 Available!*






A series of vicious attacks has police searching for a crazed rapist, but the truth is far, far worse. Aliens have come to Earth--and they're after beautiful virgins!

Dr. Gamble Pace (Teresa Farley) and Detective Dale Androtti (Lance Lewman) lead the battle against these sexual parasites intent on impregnating human women.

But are the aliens unstoppable? The invasion has begun!







Headless Eyes (1971)
*Only 240 Available!*






Desperate for money, a down on his luck artist sneaks into a woman's apartment with the intent to rob her. But she fights back and horribly disfigures him by ripping out his eye with a spoon.

The effects of his injuries drive him to a murderous rampage, literally seeking an eye for an eye!

[Torgo]

I have the Headless Eyes VHS.

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by Torgo

I have the Headless Eyes VHS.

Did you know that band re-used the cover art for The Killer Eye (1999)?

I just found that out as I was looking through the DVDs on Full Moon Direct.

[Torgo]

I didn't. I've seen a few horror cover art that's copied from others, there's even one that uses an image from Evil Dead 2 as its poster art.

[JamesG]

Available April 12th:



I Spit on Your Grave (1979)
*Only 180 Available!*






A young writer from New York City visits the isolated countryside to work on her next story only to be viciously beaten, raped and left for dead at the hands of four backwoods folk.

They soon realize they've messed with the wrong woman!









Blood Castle (1973)
*Only 240 Available!*






An ageing Countess discovers that the blood of a maid can temporarily restore her youth and great beauty.

She falls in love with a dashing young soldier but is compelled to kill again and again to maintain her attractiveness and prevent the secret from getting out.









Mandinga (1976)
*Only 250 Available!*






An Old South plantation owner lusts after his female slaves.









Tormentor (1971)
*Only 290 Available!*






A wild gang of bikers who shamelessly idolize the Nazis, brutalizes anyone or anything that stands in their way. Dealing in illegal weapons, assassinations, power and violence, they seem invincible until they push one man too far.

When his girlfriend is savagely murdered, he declares a personal war...but to destroy them, he has to join them!

[JamesG]

EXCL: Charles Band Addresses “Wizard” Big Box VHS Accusations
by Chris Alexander
April 9, 2013








Today, a video went viral via vhscollector.com that accused iconic genre film maverick Charles Band of fraud. Recently Band had claimed he discovered a wealth of collectible big box VHS boxes from his landmark, now defunct Wizard Video label. For $50, the Full Moon Pictures maven has been selling these pristine boxes with a duplicated VHS of the specific film in a sturdy clamshell case, signed and numbered.

The video below however, claims otherwise, accusing Band of reprinting his classic boxes with the intent to mislead and fraud the existing, and healthy, Wizard Video fanbase. As a collector myself and an ardent admirer of Band’s legacy and chutzpah, I called the man himself up, allowing him to respond to the charges

Here then, in its entirety, is his voicemail response to me (above). Real or not? Band’s claims are absolutely palatable. I chose to believe him. And either way, these big box Wizard’s are indeed a thing of bulky, garish beauty…










http://www.fangoria.com/new/excl-cha...s-accusations/

[JamesG]

Available May 14th:



Zombie (1979)
*Only 270 Available!*






Strangers looking for a woman's father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately searches for the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.

Unofficial Italian sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead originally released as Zombi 2 in its native Italy.









Monster Hunter (1981)
*Only 210 Available!*






A priest arrives at a small town to help get rid of a monster whose blood coagulates very fast. This creates problems as the monster is very hard to kill and then decides to go on a killing spree of its own.

Director Joe D'Amato's follow-up to Antropophagus originally released as Absurd in its native Italy.









Space Vampires (1985)
*Only 190 Available!*






A race of space vampires arrive in London and infect the populace.

Also known as Lifeforce.









The Screaming Dead (1982)
*Only 300 Available!*






A group of Southern deer hunters stop at a church graveyard in the woods. Their activities arouse the corpses of long-dead Confederate soldiers, who attack them.

Also known as The Curse of the Screaming Dead.

[JamesG]

Available June 18th:



S.S. Experiment (1976)
*Only 310 Available!*






A Nazi officer wants a testicles transplant.

Original title: Lager SSadis Kastrat Kommandantur (SS Experiment Love Camp)









Dreamaniac (1986)
*Only 230 Available!*






A heavy-metal musician makes a deal with a satanic succubus to make him successful with women, in return for the succubus being able to feed on the girls.









Savage Island (1985)
*Only 280 Available!*






Women who have been captured and sold as slave labor to a South American emerald mine hatch a plan for revolution and revenge.









Erotikill (1973)
*Only 190 Available!*






A beautiful female vampire lures men to their doom.

Original Title: Les avaleuse (Female Vampire)

[JamesG]

Available July 16th:



Zombie Lake (1981)
*Only 210 Available!*






Young women are disappearing without a trace in a small lakeside town in France. The superstitious locals blame "The Lake of Ghosts", because of the lake's haunting past, and the town's mayor seems reluctant, or powerless to take any action.

A Paris reporter comes to the town and soon discovers that the lake harbors a terrible secret dating back to WWII.

Original Title: Le lac des morts vivants (The Lake of the Living Dead)









Fraulein Devil (1977)
*Only 310 Available!*






Set during the final days of WWII, The Third Reich rewards good Nazi officers with a "pleasure train" going through Europe.

Also known as Elsa Fräulein SS, Captive Women 4









The Beast (1985)
*Only 180 Available!*






Survivors of a shipwreck land on an island inhabited by creatures.

Also known as Attack of the Beast Creatures









Escape (1980)
*Only 260 Available!*






Two women escape from a penal colony in the jungle. The sadistic overlord follows pursuit.

Also known as Escape from Hell

[JamesG]

Available August 20th:



Zombiethon (1986)
*Only 320 Available!*






A video compilation of previews and trailers from various zombie films.


Films included:

Zombie (Zombi 2)
Zombie Lake
Oasis of the Zombies
Fear
The Invisible Dead
A Virgin Among the Living Dead
The Astro-Zombies









Helltrain (1985)
*Only 210 Available!*






Three men throw a young Arab man out of a train window while venting their anger from a previous disorderly conduct arrest at a club.

Meanwhile, right-wing extremists falsely accuse other Arabs of the reprehensible action and a race riot has to be prevented.









White Slave (1985)
*Only 290 Available!*






An 18 year old girl graduates from her boarding school and visits her parents on the Amazon. While on a boat ride, her parents are brutally murdered and she is taken prisoner by a local cannibal tribe.

She adopts the customs of the tribe with the help of a warrior who has fallen in love with her, all the while planning vengeance for her parents' death.









The Possessor (1975)
*Only 220 Available!*






A priest becomes involved in demonology and exorcisms.

Original Title: The Return of the Exorcist

[JamesG]

Available Sept. 9th:



Space Zombies (1968)
*Only 310 Available!*






A disgruntled scientist decides to create superhuman monsters from the body parts of innocent murder victims. The creatures eventually escape and go on a killing spree, attracting the attention of both an international spy ring and the CIA.

aka The Astro-Zombies









The Best of Sex and Violence (1981)
*Only 200 Available!*






A compilation of previews from low-budget action films and soft-core sex films, hosted by veteran horror actor John Carradine (with an appearance by his sons David and Keith).

Among the trailers featured are those for Disco Godfather, Bury Me An Angel, Terminal Island, The Twilight People and Sweet Sugar.









Famous T&A (1982)
*Only 260 Available!*






Beautiful women sometimes do extreme things to become famous — but nothing tops when they agree to get naked in front of a camera!

Narrated by the stunning Sybil Danning, this film features clips of some of the sexiest ladies of entertainment and motion picture exposing their skin for all to see.









The Invisible Dead (1970)
*Only 230 Available!*






An evil scientist creates a murderous, invisible ape-man.

Original Title: La vie amoureuse de l'homme invisible (Dr. Orloff's Invisible Monster)