October is giving us a double dose of director Mike Mendez’s horror with the release of the Killers on Blu-ray and The Convent on both Blu-ray and 4K UHD. His nasty visions will be even more clear this spooky season. The Convent features Adrienne Barbeau and the late Coolio. Here’s the press release from Synapse Films with all the details:
Synapse Films Brings the Horror in October with
Director Mike Mendez’s
Killers and The Convent
Complete, Uncut, and Newly Restored
Killers
10/8
The Convent
10/8
On October 8th, Synapse Films will release director Mike Mendez’s first two feature films, Killers and The Convent, complete and uncut, for the first time on Blu-ray. The Convent is also being released in 4K UHD.
Convicted killers, the James brothers, Odessa (Dave Larsen) and Kyle (David Gunn), have escaped death row and found the perfect family to prey upon on a particularly dark and stormy night. What the brothers do not know is that the Ryan family has darker and more disturbing secrets than they could ever imagine. What begins as a home invasion turns for a fight for survival from this violently sinister family. From the opening moments set to Iron Butterfly’s iconic “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” to its blood-soaked finale, Mendez’s feature debut is a profanely dark, comedic look at America and violence in the tradition of Natural Born Killers.
Blu-ray special features for Killers include an audio commentary with director Mike Mendez and horror scholar Michael Gingold, original promotional trailers, an alternate ending, and a liner notes booklet by critic/writer Heather Drain.
Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1vKeFRr66o
In The Convent, what begins as an innocent fraternity hazing ritual in the depths of an abandoned boarding school with four college students descends into demonic possession, murder and more. Their only hope is Christine (Adrienne Barbeau, The Fog), a motorcycle-riding, shotgun-toting killer, who also happens to be the infamous killer who, decades before, executed all the nuns in the very same building!
Director Mike Mendez continues his adept mixture of profane dark comedy and horror with The Convent. Featuring appearances by rapper Coolio (Leprechaun in the Hood) and horror icon Bill Moseley (House of 1000 Corpses).
4K UHD and Blu-ray special features include cast and crew audio commentary, “Lords of Hell,” audio commentary featuring Saul and Dickie-Boy, a video tour of both The Convent and Killers film locations, a vintage “Making of” featurette, the original studio Electronic Press Kit (EPK), deleted scene; gore outtakes, a still gallery, promotional trailers, and “It’s Always Something with a Virgin” liner notes from Corey Danna.
Killers
The James boys, two of America’s most media-oriented killers, have escaped from Death Row. After taking a family hostage their nightmare begins!
Once upon a time, the James Brothers, Odessa (Dave Larsen) and Kyle (David Gunn, VAMPIRE JOURNALS), murdered their parents in their own beds. Now they’ve escaped from Death Row and are on the run on a stormy night, looking for a place to hide out. They invade the home of the Ryans, who seem like a typical American family and should be easy to control. But there’s something not quite right about this brood–the women seem more attracted than frightened by these notorious murderers in their house, and Dad (C.T. Miller) has secrets of his own. Things get violently out of hand as the James boys find the night not going as they expected…and there are even more surprises waiting in the basement! The directorial debut of modern cult-favorite filmmaker Mike Mendez (BIG ASS SPIDER!, THE CONVENT), KILLERS is a highly stylized crime/horror hybrid that also puts a darkly satiric spin on America’s obsession with violent perpetrators. After a brutal, hypnotic opening set to Iron Butterfly’s “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida,” the script by lead actor Larsen and Mendez begins as a traditional hostage drama, before the twisted nature of the James brothers’ “hosts” starts to reveal itself. It all leads to eruptions of gunfire and gore, and a shocking finale that was toned down in previous releases; now it can be seen in its full uncut glory in the unrated director’s cut, available for the first time on disc in high-definition!
Media
Bonus Materials
- Audio commentary with director Mike Mendez and horror scholar Michael Gingold
- Original promotional trailers
- Liner notes booklet by critic/writer Heather Drain
- Alternate Ending
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
The Convent
A group of college students break into an abandoned convent and become possessed by demonic spirits.
In 1960, a young woman named Christine enters St. Francis Boarding School for Girls and lays waste to the resident nuns. Four decades later, a group of college students head to the long-abandoned building late one night to tag it with their fraternity letters, little knowing that rumors of the place being haunted are terrifyingly true. Stir in a couple of disapproving cops and a band of unlikely Satanists, and the table is set for a feast of demonic infestation and bloodshed that only the grown-up Christine (Adrienne Barbeau, THE FOG, SWAMP THING) can possibly stop.
From its opening massacre, set to the strains of (appropriately enough) Lesley Gore, THE CONVENT is an in-your-face fright film with a full-blooded sense of humor. Director Mike Mendez (THE GRAVEDANCERS, KILLERS) both embraces and skewers the traditions of supernatural/possession cinema, with wicked twists that upend expectations and deliver jolts and laughs in equal measure. Not for the devout or the easily offended, the film gives Barbeau one of her best roles as the motorcycle-riding, shotgun-wielding Christine, with bonus appearances by fellow genre icon Bill Moseley (THE DEVIL’S REJECTS) and rapper/ actor Coolio. THE CONVENT rocked audiences at festivals including Sundance and Fantasia, but has long been unavailable on disc. Now you can possess its uncensored U.S. debut remastered in Dolby Vision 4K from the original uncut 35mm Internegative elements and worship the extensive special features!
Media
Bonus Materials
- Contains one 4K 2160p UHD disc and one 1080p Blu-ray disc
- 4K remaster of the uncut version supervised and approved by director Mike Mendez
- Mastered in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- 5.1 stereo surround mix from the original 16-track audio masters
- Cast and crew audio commentary
- “Lords of Hell” audio commentary featuring Saul and Dickie-Boy
- Video tour of both THE CONVENT and KILLERS film locations
- Vintage “Making of” featurette
- Vintage original studio Electronic Press Kit (EPK)
- “It’s Always Something with a Virgin” Liner notes from Corey Danna
- Deleted scene
- Gore outtakes
- Still gallery
- Promotional trailers
