Horror tales Madhouse and Empire of Ants on Eureka Blu-ray in June
Eureka Entertainment has announced the release of two 1970s horror titles for June, with the UK Blu-ray debuts of Jim Clark’s gothic thriller Madhouse and Bert I. Gordon’s H.G. Wells inspired creature feature Empire of the Ants. Details below.
MADHOUSE (UK/USA 1974)
Limited Edition Blu-ray | 22 June 2026 | £22.99 (pre-order price on Eureka store £17.99)
Eureka Entertainment has announced the UK Blu-ray debut of Madhouse, starring horror legends Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Robert Quarry, in one of the last great gothic thrillers of the 1970s. Released as part of the Eureka Classics range on 22 June 2026, this strictly limited edition of 2,000 copies is housed in an O-card slipcase and includes an exclusive collector’s booklet.
Produced by Amicus Productions and released by American International Pictures, Jim Clark’s Madhouse brings together two titans of horror – Vincent Price (Theatre of Blood) and Peter Cushing (Dr Terror’s House of Horrors) – in a film about the horror genre itself.
Paul Toombes (Price) is an actor whose trademark role is the enigmatic and terrifying Dr Death, a skull-faced serial killer and the central antagonist of a long-running series of horror films. When Toombes’ fiancée Ellen (Julie Crosthwait) is murdered in mysterious circumstances by an assailant dressed as Dr Death, the actor wonders if he has succumbed to madness – a question he will be forced to reckon with again when, years later, people begin dying on the set of a new television series based on his most famous character.
Better known as an editor whose credits include Marathon Man, The Killing Fields and The Mission, Jim Clark made his greatest achievement as a director with Madhouse – a genuinely original and gloriously self-aware horror film that bridges the gap between the gothic chillers of old and the more visceral genre pictures of the 1970s. Eureka Classics presents Madhouse on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- Limited Edition of 2,000 copies
- Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring original poster artwork
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on Madhouse by genre film expert Christopher Stewardson and an archival interview with director Jim Clark conducted by John Hamilton, originally published in The Dark Side
- 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray
- Original English mono audio | Optional English subtitles (SDH)
- New introduction to Madhouse by horror novelist Stephen Laws
- Lights, Camera, Murder! – new video essay on Madhouse by horror and gothic scholar Mary Going
- Audio commentary by film historian David Del Valle
- Archival making-of featurette
- Stills Gallery
- Original theatrical trailer
* All extras subject to change
EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (USA 1977)
Limited Edition Blu-ray | 22 June 2026 | £22.99 (pre-order price on Eureka store £17.99)
Eureka Entertainment has announced the UK Blu-ray debut of Empire of the Ants, a cult 1970s eco-horror inspired by H.G. Wells and starring Joan Collins. Arriving on 22 June as part of the Eureka Classics range, this strictly limited edition of 2,000 copies is housed in an O-card slipcase and accompanied by an exclusive collector’s booklet.
Nicknamed Mr B.I.G. by Famous Monsters of Filmland founder Forrest J. Ackerman, the writer, director and producer Bert I. Gordon built his reputation on films featuring giant monsters, from King Dinosaur to The Food of the Gods via The Amazing Colossal Man and Earth vs the Spider. In 1977, he made his final giant monster movie: Empire of the Ants, inspired by H. G. Wells’ short story of the same name.
Following the illegal dumping of radioactive waste in the ocean, a barrel of toxic sludge washes up on a beach not too far from land being sold by unscrupulous developer Marilyn Fryser (Joan Collins), who brings a number of prospective buyers to view the beachfront location. All seems to be going well until Marilyn, and her clients find themselves under attack by giant irradiated ants, mutated by the chemicals introduced to their habitat and determined to destroy the human race.
Owing as much to the classic creature feature Them! as it does to H. G. Wells, Empire of the Ants is an ecological fable for the increasingly climate-conscious 1970s, presented in a monster movie package that could only have been the work of the inimitable Bert I. Gordon. Eureka Classics is presenting this cult classic for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES:
- Limited Edition of 2,000 copies
- Limited edition O-card slipcase featuring original poster artwork
- Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on Empire of the Ants and ecological horror by genre film expert Liam Hathaway
- 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray
- Original English mono audio
- Optional English subtitles (SDH)
- New introduction to Empire of the Ants by Chris Cooke, filmmaker and co-director of Mayhem Film Festival
- The B.I.G. Picture – interview with film historian Kim Newman focused on the life and career of cult filmmaker Bert I. Gordon
- Audio commentary by writer, director and producer Bert I. Gordon
- Audio commentary by film historian David Del Valle with film historian and filmmaker Michael Varrati
- Radio spot
- Original theatrical trailer
* All extras subject to change