More Spaghetti Westerns From Koch Media.

If you've read my Johnny Hamlet review, you perhaps can understand my affection for the DVD releases from German company Koch Media - besides serving the public with mainstream DVD releases, every once in a while they dig out an Italian cult film - mostly spaghetti westerns - , releasing it with great, unique packaging, finest video and audio quality, tons of interesting extras, and more often than not English language options.

However, for almost a year it's been rather quiet on that front. An interview with Ulrich Bruckner, head of the company's home entertainment department stated weak sale numbers are the reason for the lack of new releases and the cancellation of a previously planned Anthony Steffen Western box, but since Bruckner is very passionate about that part of 60s/70s cinema himself, the company won't kill off the releases completely. Quite the contrary, while we'll have to expect unified packaging, the quality of the discs themselves will stay the same. Thus, Koch Media plans to release a number of spaghetti westerns in 2007, including Tinto Brass' Yankee, Mario Caiano's Un Treno Per Durango AKA Train For Durango, Leopoldo Savona's Killer Kid, Alberto Cardone's Sette Dollari Sul Russo AKA Seven Dollars On The Red, Sergio Martino's Arizona si scateno...e li fece fuori tutti AKA Arizona Colt Returns and Gianni Puccini's Dove si spara di più AKA Fury Of Johnny Kid.

No doubt these discs will all receive their fair share of extras like the ones that came before it - director and actor interviews, documentaries, etc. And of course, if they are provided with English language options, I'll make sure to get my hands on some of those DVDs to review them for Twitch. Spaghetti western enthusiasts, prepare for an exciting year...