Drive-In Delirium: The New Batch Blu Ray Review (Umbrella Entertainment)

Umbrella Entertainment is back with another edition of their series Drive-In Delirium titled The New Batch! It’s the 3rd blu ray release following 60’s & 70’s Savagery plus Maximum 80’s Overdrive. Both of those were unleashed last year. They previously released 3 different volumes on DVD in 2010 & 2012. Those were titled Volume 1, Volume 2: The Offspring, & Volume 3: Retro Rampage. These trailer reels & compilations are becoming very popular with movie collectors. Various labels have took a stab at this concept & sometimes it just doesn’t work. Umbrella Entertainment brought this niche market to a whole new level with this brand new release. The trailers have been fully restored & looked better than ever! They also sound amazing in your home system, it’s like the drive in but you don’t have to leave your actual home to enjoy it. Trailers are very important & they are usually your first encounter with most of the films you have seen in your life besides maybe the poster. Back in the day these were the only sneak peak & inside looks into a new project that was coming out in theaters. You couldn’t look them up on YouTube or maybe your favorite site like Horror HeadQuarters. It was truly the best form of marketing when it came to cinema. You would go in for a certain movie or two but you would end up leaving wanting to see five others. The Drive In & Grindhouse theaters really utilized this feature to bring in more interest for similar titles which lead to more money for everyone else. Some projects got financed & made just based off a short trailer so it created more opportunities to film makers across the world from a glimpse into what it could be. At the same time it could trick you into something awful with just a few entertaining & stand out scenes which were all used in the trailer to bring you in. It’s a mystery sometimes with these mini movies that are presented to the audience. Also you might see stuff you love in the reel & it doesn’t end up in the actual production. This happens all the time & it’s kinda a tease to the fans. Changes are made during filming so you honestly never know what’s going to show up in the finished project. Sometimes it’s a nice surprise & other times it ends up being a huge disappointment. At the end of the day without trailers you might skip over your next favorite feature because of a bad title, lame poster, or questionable cast but thanks to them it helps you make the final decision on your movie going experience.

It’s separated into two parts for this release. It features two pre-shows & an intermission. Part One: The Quickening (3:10:50) features trailers for The Creeping Unknown (The Quatermass Experiment), The Angry Red Planet, The Green Slime, Chosen Survivors, Meteor, The Dark, Without Warning, Xtro, Altered States, Silent Rage, 1990: The Bronx Warriors, Night of the Comet, The Quiet Earth, TerrorVision, The Hidden, The Curse, Our Man Flint, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, Wizards, They Call me Mister Tibbs, The Stone Killer, The Laughing Policeman, Freebie and the Bean, Brannigan, Night Moves, 10 to Midnight, Tightrope, Gorky Park, Dead Heat, Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Convoy, Death Machines, Game of Death, Swordkill, Exterminator 2, Death Wish 3, Striking Back, Rolling Vengeance, The Killing of America, Savage Attraction (Hostage), Fair Game, Hellhole, The Naked Cage, The Casandra Crossing, The Domino Principle, Eye of the Needle, Cabo Blanco, Death Hunt, Fragment of Fear, The Eyes of Laura Mars, The Last Embrace, Still of the Night, Death Valley, Highpoint, The Naked Face, Dead Ringers, Attack Force Z, Missing in Action, Mata Hari, Death Rides a Horse, Adios Sabata, Valdez is Coming, The Hunting Party, Breakheart Pass, From Noon Till Three, Linda and Abilene, The Last Tango, Caligula, They’re Playing with Fire, Every Home Should Have One, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, High Anxiety, History of the World – Part 1, The Man with Two Brains, Cannonball Run II, Amazon Women on the Moon & Breakin’ 2 – Electric Boogalo.

Part Two: The Spawning (3:02:56) includes trailers from Terror in the Aisles, Blood Mania, What’s the Matter with Helen?, Point of Terror, Don’t look into the Basement, Don’t Go into the House, Silent Scream, Demented, The Prowler, Happy Birthday to Me, The Funhouse, Night School, The Slumber Party Massacre, Alone in the Dark, The Slayer, Double Exposure, The House on Sorority Row, The Mutilator, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter / Friday the 13th: A New Beginning / Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Slaughter High, April Fools Day, Destroyer, Ghost Story, The Survivor, The Entity, The House Where Evil Dwells, Poltergeist / Poltergeist II: The Other Side / The Poltergeist III, Amityville II: The Possession / Amityville 3D, House, The Mephisto Waltz, The Exorcist / The Exorcist II: The Heretic, The Sentinel, The Hearse, The Final Conflict, The Power, Prince of Darkness, Angel Heart, The Seventh Sign, Warlock, Phantasm, Sole Survivor, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Cathy’s Curse, The Dead Zone, Firestarter, Pet Semetary, The Crimson Cult, Death Line, The Comeback, House of the Long Shadows, The Doctor and the Devils, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Lisa and the Devil, Spasmo, Deep Red, City of the Living Dead, Manhattan Baby, Phenomena, Shivers the Vampire, Count Dracula’s Great Love, The Night of the Sorcerers, The Night Visitor, Possession, A.P.E, Orca, The White Buffalo, Deadly Eyes, Razorback, Dark Age, Jaws IV: The Revenge, The Bat People, Humanoids from the Deep, Wolfen, An American Werewolf in London, The Howling / The Howling II, Cat People, The Fly, Near Dark, The Being, C.H.U.D., Hobgoblins, Pumpkinhead, The Incredible Torture Show, Basket Case, Brain Damage & The Video Dead.

All 175 trailers from both Part One: The Quickening & Part Two: The Spawning have been remastered in high definition. This is not like your typical trailer compilation blu ray & unlike most of those previous releases everything has been upgraded compared to past presentations. Obviously the quality changes depending on the material but these trailers are all at their best possible condition. Some of them also look like they might have been restored just for this Drive-In Delirium. The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track actually sounds really considering all the different sources used for this. Some of the trailers stand out more than the others but I was very impressed with the whole experience.

The bonus feature “VHS Delirium” (1:34:21) is loaded with these trailers: Christiane F., Live a Little Steal a lot, Sisters, Starflight One, Q the Winged Serpent, Fake-Out, Full Moon High, High Road to China, They Call Me Bruce, Fritz the Cat, Hostage (Savage Attraction), Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday, Yellowbeard, Breathless (83), Jaguar Lives, Survive!, Lonely Lady, Split Image, Yor, the Hunter from the Future, Zulu Dawn, Kill and Kill Again, The Last Hunter, Flesh for Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula, The House by the Cemetery, Get Crazy, Threshold, Brainwaves, Caligula, Never Say Never Again, 21 Hours to Munich, Count Yorga, Vampire, Chrome and Hot Leather, High Ballin’, Stone Cold Room, An American Werewolf in London, Alligator, Empire of Ants, The Return, Young Doctors in Love, Melvin Son of Alvin, Scanners, The Philadelphia Experiment, Cujo, Defiance, The Fifth Floor, Jennifer, Secrets of the Phantom Caverns, Kill Squad, Inseminoid, Savage Islands, Battletruck, Cannonball, Cannonball Run II, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Rutles, Cloud Dancer, Hysterical, Roadhouse 66, 1984, Lassiter, Losin’ It, The Key, Insatiable, Bedside Headmaster, Julia, When a Stranger Calls, Tilt, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, Condorman, Scarred, Seven, Flight 90, Angel, Dominique is Dead, The Day After, The Exterminators of the Year 3000 & Cross Country. As always, Umbrella Entertainment delivers a top notch extra on this disc. Honestly, they are probably the best when it comes to special features compared to all the labels. The New Batch covers so many decades & genres that any fan of cinema will be geeked out by this blu ray release. Charles Bronson had the most films featured in The Quickening & he was pretty much the lead in that volume. I am definitely cool with that, it had something for everyone on there. The Spawning was my personal favorite addition to Drive-In Delirium. Then again that volume was full of horror & cult films so that’s not a big surprise coming from me. I could watch this release over & over, it’s pure entertainment. This comes highly recommended from me!!!! I need to check out & review the other two volumes ASAP after viewing this!