IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

Turbine Media Group, a German video label, announced that they would release Schlock (1973), John Landis’ directorial debut, as a Blu-ray/DVD combo mediabook on April 27th.  The film features the director in a gorilla suit (designed by the great Rick Baker) as a prehistoric monster that awakens in the 1970s.

This region-free set is limited to 2000 copies.  DiabolikDVD.com has also been allowed to pre-sell 50 copies, or you can preorder the set through the German website Rakete Shop.  

Here’s the full press release:

Turbine Media Group in association with director John Landis present John Landis’ long out-of-print first feature film, the cult comedy SCHLOCK, in its Blu-ray world premiere in an exclusive dual-format mediabook Blu-ray/DVD worldwide-playable combo set limited to 2000 copies, releasing April 27th, 2018.

A love stronger, and stranger, than King Kong and Fay Wray! The long-slumbering banana monster Schlock wakes up after 20 million years and escapes from his cave, befriending a blind girl who thinks he’s a dog, and causes mass panic in the small town with a shocking bloody massacre setting the scene. Schlock tries to escape but the military is fast approaching…

This low-budget prelude to Landis’ brilliant career which includes ANIMAL HOUSE, THE BLUES BROTHERS, and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, SCHLOCK is an ingenious monster comedy filled with wild movie references and absurd gags, with the then 22-year-old filmmaker paying respect to some of his favorite films like KING KONG, 2001, THE BLOB, and FRANKENSTEIN. SHLOCK is also the beginning of Landis’ partnership with makeup artist extraordinaire  Rick Baker, and early feature from the gifted artist.

Now being released for the first time ever in high-definition from Turbine Media Group, this exclusive limited 2000-copy Blu-ray/DVD combo mediabook edition contains the main feature in full HD sourced from an all-new, detailed 4K frame-by-frame restoration on Region Code–Free Blu-ray for worldwide playback, and an NTSC SD 4:3 full-frameopen-matte DVD version, just like in the good old days of VHS. The mediabook packaging features original artwork and a bound-in, fully illustrated booklet with rare pictures and new writing on the film in German and English.

INCLUDES THESE SCHLOCKTASTIC SPECIAL FEATURES!

• Exclusive new introduction by creator John Landis
• Exclusive newly shot interview with John Landis (approx. 41 min.)
• Vintage audio commentary by John Landis & Monster Maker Rick Baker (from the 2001 Anchor Bay DVD)
• Trailers from Hell clip: John Landis on SCHLOCK
• Original trailers (theatrical release, re-release, “Banana Monster” title, the original German 35mm trailer, and a new transfer of the German version)
• Original 1970s radio spots
• Bilingual edition: menus and booklet in English and German