FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD and LATITUDE ZERO on DVD in 2007

Media Blasters announces more Toho DVDs Author: Keith Aiken Source: Media Blasters, Inc. Tuesday’s coverage of Media Blasters’ upcoming DVDs revealed that the company was planning to release more Toho titles in the new year. Today, Media Blasters officially announced that the Ishiro Honda/Eiji Tsuburaya collaborations FRANKENSTEIN VS BARAGON (Furankenshutain tai Chite Kaiju Baragon, US title FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, 1965) and LATITUDE ZERO (Ido Zero Daisakusen, 1969) will be coming to Region 1 DVD in 2007 from the `Tokyo Shock` label. This will be the first US DVD release for both films. Media Blasters put out their first DVDs of classic Toho fx movies in March 2005, and to date they have released THE MYSTERIANS (Chikyu Boeigun, 1957), VARAN THE UNBELIEVABLE (Daikaiju Baran, 1958), MATANGO: ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE (Matango, 1963), ATRAGON (Kaitei Gunkan, 1963), DOGORA (Uchu Daikaiju Dogora, aka DAGORA THE SPACE MONSTER, 1964), and SPACE AMOEBA (Gezora - Ganime - Kameba: Kessen! Nankai-no Daikaiju, aka YOG MONSTER FROM SPACE, 1970). Most of these discs have included features from Toho’s Region 2 DVDs. FRANKENSTEIN VS BARAGON has been the most requested Toho title, so Media Blasters was happy to acquire the film now that Classic Media’s US rights have expired. LATITUDE ZERO has been tied up for years over rights issues (the film was based on stories by Ted Sherdeman and planned as a co-production with producer Don Sharp) and only recently was released on video in Japan. It stars American actors Joseph Cotton (CITIZEN KANE), Caesar Romero (BATMAN), and Richard Jaeckel (THE DIRTY DOZEN) along with Toho’s Akira Takarada and Akihiko Hirata. FRANKENSTEIN VS BARAGON is tentatively scheduled for February 27, 2007, with LATITUDE ZERO planned for March 27. It’s a bit too early for details about the materials and extra features on these DVDs, but Media Blasters has said that the upcoming discs will be similar to their previous Toho releases. The company has promised additional information as soon as it becomes available… but they have said Toho fans should expect more surprises next year.