Hello!

To show you how normal things are in Los Angeles, I reported to Jury Duty downtown on Thursday, and the only sign of unrest was a line of police cars that drove down Grand Avenue. The photo above (lifted from the web) is where I was, but taken three days before — a big but peaceful daytime demonstration.

The normalization of chaos real and unreal, here and internationally, has gone beyond strange …. Let’s hope things stay reasonably sane today.

We take our vintage space travel movies where we can find them. This one isn’t the most accomplished Sci-fi thriller ever made, but thanks to a link steer from Michael McQuarrie we are finally able to see it …

It’s Hugo Grimaldi’s Mutiny in Outer Space from 1965, an opus we never caught on 2am TV screenings back in the day. Both it and its companion feature The Human Duplicators have been scarce items ever since. A look at Duplicators’ credits reveals a more interesting cast… this one has galloping fungus clogging up an orbiting space station.

We’re not expecting much but it looks competently filmed. I wish the image were larger.

And I couldn’t let this fat pack of fancy Vinegar Syndrome releases slip by. Business for Blu-ray boutique labels must be good, judging by the constant flow of very high-quality editions with curated extras of the kind once found only on Criterion discs. This group contains five 4K Ultra-HD releases in elaborate packaging — stout boxes with booklets and keep cases in card sleeves. Are due July 29.

Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971) with Zohra Lampert
Dirty Work (1998) with Norm Macdonald
The Golden Child (1986) with Eddie Murphy, directed by Michael Ritchie
The Dark Half (1993) with Timothy Hutton, directed by George Romero from the book by Stephen King
Jade (1995) with Linda Fiorentino, David Caruso, directed by William Friedkin

Also, in Blu-ray special editions

Iron Angels I-III (1987-1989) directed by Teresa Woo
and
Charley One-Eye (1973) with Richard Roundtree, directed by Don Chaffey

Thanks for reading! — Glenn Erickson