Blu-ray & DVD: The Digital Dread Report for April 21st

An Iranian vampire, Snake Plissken in 1080p, some toilet goblins, a lost Charles Band movie, and some funky fresh break-dancing magic ...this is The Digital Dread Report for April 21st!

We've been waiting for a "good" version of Escape From New York to hit Blu-ray for years now, and thanks to Scream Factory, we're giddy as hell to finally have a copy in our hands. Equally as exciting, but for completely different reasons, is the Breakin'/Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo 2-Pack from Shout Factory. They're such awful, yet enjoyable movies, that we can't wait to crack open a beer or 20 and shamefully enjoy the hell out of them.

These two releases alone fill us with enough joy and happiness to carry us through the rest of our week.

*So read on, and be sure to click the pics to order whatever strikes your fancy.

"In the Iranian ghost-town Bad City, a place that reeks of death and loneliness, the townspeople are unaware they are being stalked by a lonesome vampire."

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night wasn't exactly our cup of tea, but it was a pretty impressive effort, none the less. If we had to explain this movie to someone, we'd say that if Jim Jarmusch made a vampire movie, it would probably feel a lot like this one does. This is a quiet, moody film that focuses more on the romance between its two leads than it does the vampire action, and for lovers of Indie Film, this one will probably be an instant fave.

Kino Lorber has put together a pretty impressive Blu-ray package here, which includes a bunch of Special Features and a 70-page booklet. 

If you watched the trailer and thought "this looks pretty good," then you'll probably love it.

"When jazz dancer Kelly (Lucinda Dickey, Ninja III: The Domination) teams up with street dancers Ozone (Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quiñones) and Turbo (Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers), there's no stopping them! Now, at last, you can relive the exhilarating Breakin' saga on Blu-ray!"

And as out of place as this title seems on a Horror website, we have no choice but to include this release of Breakin/Breakin 2: Electric Booglaoo here as one of April's best Blu-ray offerings.

The music, the dancing, the cheesy plot, the horrible acting, Jean-Claude Van Damme looking like a geek... it's all so funky fresh and dope that we'd be wack not to want to own these movies on Blu-ray. If you grew up in the 80's, you'll know why these movies are so great. If you didn't, well then I feel bad for you.

How in the hell can you resist 2x the poppin', and 2x the lockin'?!?

"A thrilling landmark film that jolts along at a breakneck pace, Escape From New York leapt to cult status with high-octane action, edge-of-your-seat suspense and the mind-blowing vision of lone warrior Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) battling his way out of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan!"

Here goes Scream Factory again, giving us one of the best genre movies of all-time, in a Must Own Blu-ray Collector's Edition! Do these guys ever stop? Escape From New York is one of our favorite movies ever, and one of John Carpenter's best, and to say that we're excited about finally being able to own it on Blu-ray is understating things by a mile. This is not only one of our favorite John Carpenter joints, but one of our favorite movies of the 80's, period.

If we could only buy one single release during April, this one would easily be it.

Our review for this one is coming ASAP.

"Take a creepy old Hollywood mansion, a naive young man and a pretty girl. Add an over-the-top orgy and some slimy, winged goblins who crawl out of toilets, and you have Ghoulies, a horrifying and hilarious ride into the darkest regions of hell! Conjured during a party thrown by the mansion's new owner, the hairy, fanged demons waste no time reeking havoc on the scene-and declaring the unsuspecting owner their new lord and master!"

Another Scream Factory release, this Ghoulies 2-Pack looks like it's going to be a fun trip back to the 80's for us. Gremlins, Critters, Ghoulies, Troll, Munchies, Hobgoblins... there was no shortage of tiny evil puppets terrorizing people in the 80's, and if you love schlocky Horror, then Ghoulies is definitely for you.

Now if they would only release Ghoulies Go to College on Blu-ray...

"An insane surgeon finds himself up to his armpits in eyeballs after guilt prompts him to begin removing the eyes of abducted people in hopes of performing transplants on his daughter who lost her own in a car-accident he caused."

Speaking of Ghoulies producer Charles Band (which we weren't, but we're using this cheap segue anyhow), here's the first movie he ever produced way back in 1976, Mansion of the Doomed. It has never been released on DVD before, and even though Full Moon doesn't have the best track record when it comes to releasing movies with high-quality transfers, we're still curious to check this one out.

• Dollman vs. Demonic Toys is a fun 90's throwback, on the same cheesy level as Ghoulies.
• Blind Woman's Curse should be another strong release from Arrow Video U.S. 
• Everly was a cool action flick, mainly because Salma Hayek is smoking hot, especially with guns in her hands. 
• We only saw the first two episodes of Fortitude, but it what we saw was interesting enough that we definitely want to catch up with it sometime soon here. 
• This week's DVD releases all look like B-grade dreck to us, so we'll happily be skipping them.
• Everything else, as always, is a crap-shoot.